Pain Into Power
by stelochild
Summary: He was quirkless. She was judged by her lineage. The world didn't give people like them a second glance. But they dreamed of being heroes. They turned their pain into power, and that's how they and their classmates learned how to fly.
1. Prologue

_**The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love - Hubert H. Humphrey**_

* * *

 **Prologue**

 **Deku and Baka**

* * *

" _All I knew this morning when I woke_

 _Is I know something now, know something now I didn't before_

 _And all I've seen since eighteen hours ago is green eyes and freckles_

 _And your smile in the back of my mind making me feel like," – Everything Has Changed; Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran_

* * *

Initially, she had thought she was the only one; it had seemed like it in the beginning. He never left her alone – tormenting her on a daily basis, because of the small distance between their homes. If it wasn't a hair pull or an explosion in her face, then it was a cruel push in the back or an underhanded foot trip – no matter _Bakugou Katsuki_ was always there to wreak havoc on her life. He had even begun referring to her as _"Baka"_ instead of her given name _"Tsubaki"_. She literally wanted to scream once she found out that she would be attending the same grade school as him. He was the bane of her existence – and that was saying a lot with the life she had.

Tachibana Tsubaki was used to being bullied; it was a given with her family's _reputation_ and made even worse due to her aspirations. However, the constant harassment she got from the ash blonde devil was on a whole another level compared to what she got in the past. It was like the little boy made it his mission to make her life hell.

 _And she only made it worse by never going down without a fight._

Tsubaki was just as wild and fiery as her orange hair – never wavering under Bakugou's intimidations or threatens, but constantly challenging them. Even though she knew the results would always be the same – badly beaten up with burn marks – the young orangette made she got a couple of punches and bites in, whether it was Bakugou or one of his lackeys. She was sure to make sure one of them suffered with her.

It wasn't very heroic like behavior, but they were assholes and deserved it.

 _And the orangette could hold a strong grudge._

The day that Tsubaki found out she wasn't the only one who fell victim to Bakugou's quirk and abuse, the orangette leapt with joy. She had someone she could plot with; someone she could work with to counter Bakugou and company mistreatment and fight back with.

 _Again, not very heroic behavior, but Bakugou was a dick – no one could really fault her._

However, this way of thinking quickly changed when Tsubaki saw who the other victim was. Stormy, gray eyes stared disappointedly at a feeble, limp body on the ground, a frown very evident on the face the eyes belonged to. Deku, the name of Bakugou's other victim, was not at all what Tsubaki thought he would be. With a mop of messy dark green hair and a face filled with freckles, Tsubaki could tell the boy wasn't going to be no help to her. He was too weak and scrawny, and the fact that she overheard Bakugou saying he was quirkless too didn't help in her recruitment of him.

 _Her quirk might not have been much, but at least she had one._

Sighing, Tsukabi couldn't believe she took in more beatings than regular just to defend him. Standing up from her squat, Tsubaki had every intention just to leave the small boy there unconscious and beaten, but after taking one step the orangette found herself glancing down at the boy one more time before sighing.

" _All Might wouldn't leave him there,"_ She thought to herself before turning around fully and lifting her hand above the boy.

In an instant, a yellowish-orange glow started to erupt from Tsubaki's hand and within seconds a light orange rectangular platform appeared underneath the boy, lifting him up from the ground. With her hand still up, Tsubaki guided the platform as she walked to the nearest water pipe, lying the platform down as she ran the water unto a cloth. She then began to clean the boy up as much as she could with just water and a cloth.

"Wow, they beat you worse than me," Tsubaki voiced as she ran the cloth over the boy's face. "Bakugou must _really_ don't like you."

As Tsubaki said this, the head of messy hair began to stir and soon Tsubaki had half-lidded round green eyes staring up at her in confusion.

"W-who are you?" The boy asked, slowly lifting himself up from the ground – wincing slightly at his wounds. His eyes then wondered to the cloth in Tsubaki's hand and then back to her face – eyes suddenly wide and fully open. "Were…were you helping me?"

Tsubaki was about to answer the boy when he spoke once again.

"Wait! I know you!" He proclaimed, fully awake. "You're that girl—!"

And with that, Tsubaki was back on her feet, walking away from the boy with haste and heated steps. Angry rolled off the orangette as she ignored the boy's pleas and broke out into a full out run. How dare he – after she tried nursing him! He was going to judge her from her family name instead of the actions she had performed for him – she just knew it. As soon as the recognition came to his eyes, she knew what he was going to do next. He was going to push her away and want nothing to do with her. That's how it always turned out, no matter what she did – all people saw was her surname.

 _They never saw her._

After that, Tsubaki wasn't expecting to see that green haired boy again. Life went on as usual for her that summer, and soon school was in session for her. As per usual it was lonely, no one wanting anything to do with her – her only social interaction with people being her daily arguments with Bakugou since fate was so cruel enough to put her in the same class as him. And if that was annoying enough, it always felt like someone was watching her. Throughout the school day and during her walk home, Tsubaki always felt as if there were a pair of eyes on her. It eventually one evening she had, had enough of it and decided to confront the problem.

" _ **COME OUT AND FACE ME OR I'LL CASTRATE YOU, YOU CREEP!"**_ Tsubaki hissed, turning around to an empty street, but she knew someone was there. "You got till the count of five."

"One…Four!"

"Please don't castrate me!" A familiar high pitch voice squeaked from behind a tree.

Slowly coming from behind the tree, the first thing Tsubaki saw was a mop of dark green locks and then terrified tear-filled green eyes. With a frown, Tsubaki quickly recognized the trembling stalker as _Deku._

"U-um…umm-m…hi…I," Deku began, shaking and stumbling uncontrollably. This quickly got on Tsubaki's nerves. It was clear this Deku character had no backbone or confidence in himself – he didn't even fight back when Bakugou bullied him. At least Tsubaki did that – and she was a girl!

"I-I-I—."

Tsubaki rolled her eyes. _"What a waste of time."_

Turning back around, the orangette was about to walk away from the stumbling boy when she felt a hand gasp her shirt. Turning, she saw it was Deku – tears wiped from his face.

"Wait!" He said with a soft clear voice. When he had her attention, he then let go if her shirt and lowered his gaze to the ground. "I-I'm sorry for watching you…I-I just didn't know how to approach you…"

" _Approach me?"_ Tsubaki wondered, thinking back to that day she met the boy. _"But wasn't he trying to get away from me?"_

Taking a deep breath, Deku then lifted his head to Tsubaki – the previous nervousness in his eyes nearly gone. "I…I want to thank you, Tsuchan!"

" _Thank me?"_ Tsubaki thought shocked. No one had ever thanked her before.

"You're the first person to ever help me, and I'm really grateful for that. Also…I'm sorry if I made you upset that day. I was really sad when you ran away – I didn't mean to hurt you."

" _He was sad…"_ Tsubaki repeated in her head. No one had ever been sad for her or even apologized to her before. No one had even spoke to her so kindly and genuinely to her before. He was responding to how she was treating him that day and not from the stigma that followed with her surname. Tsubaki heart dropped then.

 _She was wrong that day to run away from him._

"Please forgive me, Tsu—."

Deku stopped his sentence when saw Tsubaki's face. The orange haired girl's face was completely red with tears streaming down on her cheeks and running red nose. Wiping her eyes furiously, Deku watched as the orangette cried before coming to tears himself and wrapping his arms around her. To his surprise she didn't push away but hugged him back tightly.

Deku wouldn't realize till later how much his words meant to Tsubaki and how important it was that he had said them. She hadn't even realized how much she had needed to hear those words until they were said. To think that this crybaby, weakling had her in tears in his arms – it was almost unbelievable. Tsubaki didn't know how long she had stayed in Deku's arms crying – all she knew was that from that day forward she was never alone again.

"Wow, Tsuchan!" Izuku exclaimed with a bright grin. "Your quirk is so cool!"

"Ya think?" Tsubaki asked curiously, floating a small light orange bubble in her small hands. "I never really saw anything special about it."

Izuku nodded his head furiously with a broad smile. "Yup! Let me write you down in my Hero Analyst Journal!"

The green haired boy then ran to his desk and picked up a book on top, running back to his bed and joining Tsubaki on it. Tsubaki watched curiously as he doodled her upon a page and took notes about her. Feeling eyes on him, Izuku looked up from his journal and found Tsubaki staring at him in wonder. He smiled at her, causing the orangette to smile in return. It wasn't long afterwards that Midoriya Inko came to bring them their snacks.

Weeks had passed since that fateful evening Tsubaki had cried in front of Izuku, and two have been inseparable since. From day to night, they were always together – playing, laughing, and fanning over their role model – All Might. It was a friendship no one saw coming: the timid, polite Deku and the blunt, rambunctious Baka. It was a match up in heaven for Bakugou – he got to beat up the two people he disliked the most at the same time. The ash blonde continued his harassment of the two friends, and even though they both still got beat up and pushed around, it wasn't as bad as before. It was bearable to an extend until Tsubaki fought back.

"Tsuchan, why do you always gotta fight Kacchan back?" Izuku questioned, rubbing his bruised arm as Tsubaki and him walked to his house. The green haired boy was feeling defeated yet again while the orangette was still fuming from what happened – completely ignoring the bloody nose on her face.

"Because I refuse go down without a fight!" Tsubaki barked, clenching her fist. "I won't give him the satisfactory! That—that jerk!"

"Tsuchan…," Izuku said softly, taking note of the orangette's silent tears.

Tsubaki rarely cried, but today was different. During Bakugou's assault, he had said some pretty unkind words about Tsubaki's father. Tsubaki was always sensitive when it came to her father so hearing Bakugou today made her go off the deep end, which was why she had a bloody nose. Seeing her in tears again, Izuku couldn't help but run up to her and hug her from behind, crying tears himself.

"People like him…don't deserve a quirk," Tsubaki cried angerly. "Shouldn't even consider being a hero…I-I wish you had a quirk, Izuku…you deserve one…more than that bastard."

"Tsuchan," Izuku said, hugging her tighter.

"I also wish my quirk was stronger…so I could protect us…"

"But your quirk is strong, Tsuchan!" Izuku exclaimed, causing Tsubaki to face him. "I-It c-can be strong just like Kacchan's – you just need practice! But until then…please stop fighting Kacchan back, Tsuchan. I get really sad when you get hurt."

Hearing Izuku's words, Tsubaki thought carefully about them. She didn't like it when people pushed her or others around, but her fighting back with a weak quirk wasn't much help either – it honestly made things just worse. Izuku was right – she did need practice with her quirk. They said that practicing and training with one's quirk made it stronger and she was willing to try it, so she put people like Bakugou in their place. Bullies like him didn't deserve to be heroes which was why she was determined to surpass him and be one of the best. Sighing, the orangette decided to listen to her friend. Even though she might get her butt kicked now, it won't be for long.

"Fine…," Tsubaki finally agreed with a defeated frown. "But, if I do this, Izuku, then I want you to know…if you can't make it far as a hero being quirkless, then please…don't push yourself – let me be the hero for both of us. I don't want you to get hurt either…it makes me sad."

Izuku looked taken back at Tsubaki's words, but after molding them over in his head, he eventually agreed to them. Tsubaki knew he didn't want to, and as her friend she would encourage him no matter what, but she had to be realistic with him. It was dangerous to be a hero without a quirk – you could easily get killed, and Tsubaki didn't want that to happen to Izuku.

 _He was her best friend._

"Okay, Tsuchan…," Izuku said with a sad smile. "I promise."

Tsubaki nodded. "I promise too."

And so the promises were made.

Tsubaki kept her word and stopped fighting Bakugou back, spending as much of her free time with Izuku to make her quirk stronger. And eventually when the time come, and reality struck Izuku, he would keep his and allow Tsubaki to be the hero for the both of them. But until then, life carried on for the two friends – them changing with the seasons until finally their light blue kiddie sweaters changed to monotone Junior High uniforms.

"You ready, Tsuchan!" Green eyes beamed down at stormy gray ones.

"Ready!" They replied. "Third year of Junior High here we come – Deku and Baka."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Gotta stop making stories, but three is usually my max till I finish at least one. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter I

_**Around every corner, always protect the engine that powers you - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson**_

* * *

 **Chapter I**

 **All Might**

* * *

" _I can feel your pain, I can feel your struggle_

 _You just wanna live, been everything so low_

 _That you could drown in a puddle_

 _That's why I gotta hold us up, yeah hold us up_

 _For all the times no one's ever spoke for us," – Both of Us; B.o.B. ft. Taylor Swift_

* * *

 _Everyday._

Everyday was the same routine for her.

At the crack of dawn, she would be up – half awake as she traded in her work uniform for a school one after a short, warm shower. Mindful of her tired nature, she always applied a minimal amount of makeup – just enough to make her look up and alert. She rarely if barely did anything to her hair, allowing the orange mane to fall and flow as it pleased as she continued about her morning. Though only two people lived in their household, she never hesitated to take out time to do some cleaning for the little amount of mess they had. It was always when she was cleaning that he would wake up and join her downstairs.

With spiky, cropped orange hair, Tachibana Ichigo did not start his morning without a beer in hand, taking a swig of it as he took his usual seat at the kitchen table – grey eyes emptied and face tired and worn out. Despite this, she always greeted him with a bright smile, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek as she placed his breakfast in front of him. He never returned the smile – just simply patted her head, never once looking her in the face. He usually ate quick, leaving his plate at the table as he grabbed his bento and finished the rest of his beer, patting her head once again before giving her a swift kiss on the forehead and leaving out the door.

Again – never once looking her in the face.

When she finished cleaning and eating her own breakfast, she then would gather her things for school, stopping a brief moment at her mother's picture before she too went out the door.

This was her daily routine; this was her livelihood.

This was the life of Tachibana Tsubaki.

Most didn't know this about her though; most really didn't care to get to know her to find out. They always kept their distance – never wanting to get close to her because of her background. It was always her against everybody else, but she was a big girl. She had made a promise to herself a long time ago that she would never let the world break her.

For if she wasn't strong who would be strong for those she cared about the most?

Who would care for them and protect them if she wasn't there?

She was all that they had so she could not falter – for them and the millions of others who didn't have anyone to fight for them.

She had to be their protector and care giver from all the evil in the world.

She had to be their hero.

 _Just like All Might._

Tsubaki was three years old when she first saw the #1 hero in action on the TV. It was the most spectacular thing she had ever witnessed; she had never seen anyone like him before and the impact he left on her would shape her whole perspective of what a hero was.

 _Strong-willed._

 _Compassionate._

 _Selfless._

That is what made a hero, and that is what Tsubaki wanted to be – for herself, for others, and for her _father_. She was going to be one of the best – a symbol of hope and love people could look to. Even though she herself came from a lineage of evil, she was going to be some good for the world.

 _She was going to be a hero._

"You wouldn't believe what I caught witness of this morning, Tsuchan!" Izuku beamed, pulling out his notebook. "There's a new hero on the scene!"

Knowing just exactly what was going to occur, Tsubaki prepared herself mentally for an Izuku nerd episode which more than likely was going to take up most of their walk to school. As much as the orangette loved the green haired boy, his nerd spams were one of his qualities she could live without. Blowing and popping her bubble gum in a continuous cycle, Tsubaki tried to keep her sanity as her ears were bombard with facts and statistics about heroes she really didn't want to know.

It was moments like these that she was honestly surprised was even friends with Izuku – they were so different that it was almost comical. If their contrast in hair color didn't get people, then it was most definitely their personalities. A loud, boisterous, and aggressive orangette and a timid, polite, and nerdy green head – a friendship that defies logic in a lot of ways. They were an odd match, but they made it work – Deku and Baka.

"She'll be a crowd favorite no doubt, but with her quirk she could cause a lot of damage," Izuku explained, going over his notes.

"Hm, she sounds like a bitch," Tsubaki commented, blowing a bubble before popping it.

" _ **TSUCHAN!"**_

"Just being honest, Cinnamon Roll."

"Hey, Tsuchan…we're third years now…don't you think it's time to stop calling me that," Izuku said softly with a sweat drop.

Tsubaki pondered this for a moment.

"No."

"Of course," Izuku murmured with a down spirit.

Tsubaki merely giggled, swinging her arm around the freckled faced boy's neck as their school came into sight from a distance.

Aldera Junior High was your average Junior High with your typical standards and education – it wasn't the best of the best, but it wasn't the worse of the worse either. It was just there. Tsubaki initially did not want to attend the institution – all the children she grew up with attended it and it was common knowledge that they treated her like an outsider. In fact, the only reason why she was there was because of Izuku; if he wasn't there then she would have surely gone to the Junior High three miles away. Aldera wasn't much, but the people there surely made it unbearable at times.

 _Especially the asshole that sat behind Tsubaki._

"Hey, teach!" An all too familiar arrogant voice announced behind Tsubaki. "Don't lump me in with this munch of losers. I'm the real deal, but these guys'll be lucky to end up as sidekicks to some busted D-Lister, heh."

" _Arrogant ass,"_ Tsubaki thought as the rest of the class formed an angry mob against the ash blonde. She, of course, wanted to join in but she's been trying her best to pay little mind to what the prick said. She was quite honestly _too_ used to his terrible personality.

Bakugou Katsuki has been Tsubaki's next door neighbor since the summer she moved into town; their bedrooms being right across from each other. She saw him every day and every night for the past 11 years of her life – years she could never _ever_ get back. To say she didn't like the boy was an understatement – she absolutely loathed him. He woke up every morning with the mission to make her and Izuku's life miserable, and he proudly did it with a wicked smile. It was absolutely hilarious to Tsubaki that he aimed to be the top hero one day. To her, people like him didn't deserve such titles – they didn't even deserve to be heroes. There have been countless of times in which she wanted to but the bastard in his place, but the stupid promise always kept her back.

" **But your quirk is strong, Tsuchan!" Izuku exclaimed, causing Tsubaki to face him. "I-It c-can be strong just like Kacchan's – you just need practice! But until then…please stop fighting Kacchan back, Tsuchan. I get really sad when you get hurt."**

There has been plenty of times throughout her childhood that Tsubaki has regretted ever making that promise to Izuku. Though Bakugou never knew about it, he was quick to take notice of the orangette not fighting him back anymore, and for some terrible reason, started bullying her and Izuku even more. It seemed at times he was honestly egging her on – trying to get her to fight him back, but she stayed true to her word and never did. Even now as they sit in class now, every now and then the ash blonde would purposely kick her chair with his foot. It took everything in Tsubaki to not turn around and right hook him in the face.

"Huh. You got impressive test results," Their sensei commented when the class finally quieted down. "Maybe you will get into Yūei High."

A thunder of gasps was released as everyone took notice of what the teacher just said. Tsubaki merely rolled her eyes. Homeroom was taking way too long for her liking now – she just prays Bakugou doesn't go on his _"I'm the perfect candidate for Yūei"_ rant again.

"That's exactly why it's the only place worthy of me!"

" _Dammit all,"_ Tsubaki cursed as she felt her chair shake from Bakugou jumping on top of his desk. _"Why does sensei encourage him."_

As Bakugou began his rant, Tsubaki became more and more irritated and just ended up blocking the ash blonde out. The orangette's plan was not to tune back in until the end of class, but as soon as she heard sensei call Izuku's name, she was all ears – her Izuku in danger senses on high alert.

Finally turning around, Tsubaki's stormy gray eyes narrowed dangerously as she saw everyone in class laughing at Izuku. However, she didn't get into action until she saw Bakugou strike Izuku's desk. With fury filled eyes, Tsubaki extended her arm, forming a light orange bubble around her hand and causing a light orange wall to form in between Bakugou and Izuku.

" _To hell with the promise!"_

"What the hell!?" Bakugou barked before directing his gaze to Tsubaki. He knew all too well who formed that wall. _**"BAKA!"**_

"Tsuchan!" Izuku cried out. "W-what are you doing!"

"Leave him alone, Bakugou!" Tsubaki ordered in a dangerous tone. " _Or else."_

"Hah! Are you seriously threatening me, Baka!" Bakugou chuckled with crazed eyes, stepping up to the orangette. "You haven't stood up to me in years; have you forgotten all the times I had you beaten up!? You know better don't you!"

"You'll know better if you dare put a hand on Izuku again," The orangette declared with a glare, stepping closer to the ash blonde. Though he towered over her small form, Tsubaki did not waver as she held a glare match with him. She wanted so badly to smack the smirk off his face.

"Here you go with the threats again," Bakugou sneered. "You really think your pathetic quirk can go up against mine! You really are a _"baka"_! Go back to your seat before I ruin that pretty face of yours!"

" _ **Why you—!"**_

" _ **TSUCHAN!"**_

Tsubaki had an orb around her hand about to right hook Bakugou when she heard Izuku call out her name. Glancing over to the freckled faced boy, Tsubaki could practically hear his eyes pleading for her to back down. She wanted to ignore them and just risk the detention she'll get for assaulting Bakugou (even though he has outright assaulted people in broad daylight), but she couldn't bring herself to do so. At least not with Izuku there looking at her like that.

With a sigh, the orangette lowered her hand and returned to her seat in silence; the entire class now laughing at her forfeit to Bakugou. She didn't turn around for the rest of class.

"I'm sorry, Tsuchan," Izuku apologized. It was lunch period now, and the green haired and orangette was seated under their usual tree, finishing up their bento boxes when Izuku squeaked out his apology. He knew Tsubaki backing down from Bakugou earlier was a huge hit to her pride and was no doubt still fuming inside because it. She hadn't spoken one word to him their entire lunch period, but simply sat beside him, eating her lunch.

Her silence said it all.

 _She was mad at him, and it was obvious._

"I know you really didn't want to back down from Kacchan earlier," Izuku continued – his green eyes glancing in between his bento box and the orangette. "But he could have really hurt you, plus you have no doubt gotten in trouble with sensei. I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you, Tsuchan."

"And what about you, Izuku," Tsubaki finally spoke.

"Huh?"

Tsubaki believed could take on Bakugou and prove to him he wasn't the best; she was ready to teach him a lesson!

 _But Izuku…_

It's like no matter how hard she trained, he always thought she wasn't ready to take on Bakugou. It was annoying and frustrating, and most of all made her blood boil. Ever since they were kids, Tsubaki was always defending and protecting Izuku from bullies, but whenever it came to Bakugou, he wouldn't allow her to raise one fist against him. Of course there was a reason why – Bakugou was the only one out their peers that could take her down, especially with his quirk. There's no denying the number of bloody noses, scrapped knees, and burnt marks he gave her as children, but things were different now. She was stronger – she just wished Izuku would understand that.

All she wanted to do was protect him.

 _Just like All Might…_

"Bakugou hurts you every day – don't you ever think I don't want anything bad to happen to you either," Tsubaki said. "Ever since we were little kids, all you've ever said was that you didn't like it when Bakugou hurt me, which was why we made that _stupid_ promise. Well, newsflash, Izuku, I'm the only one here with a quirk – at least I have a fighting chance against Bakugou."

"Tsu—."

"Maybe if you would finally keep your end of the promise, Izuku, things would be a lot easier," Tsubaki interrupted – her voice overcoming with emotions. "Why do you have to make things so difficult! I'm getting sick and tired of the world treating you like crap and you expecting me to do nothing about it. I'm the one with the quirk here, Izuku – I should be protecting you, not the other way around. Stop trying to be the hero, because you'll never be one!"

Tsubaki was furious. Usually when she got this angry, she preferred to be alone – not wanting to hurt anyone unintentionally. But today control was not on her side. She was just so tired. There was only so much a person could take, and unfortunately, she had reached her limit. Maybe it was the fact that they were third years now, or the pressures of their high school entrance exams approaching, or even the daily, melancholy of her life weighing on her – all Tsubaki knew was that she was getting tired of everything. She could no longer allow Bakugou to treat her and Izuku the way he did – she wouldn't allow it any further. Tsubaki was a lot stronger than Izuku would ever realize, and it was about time she showed him.

No one understood his pain better than she did, so that's why she wanted to protect him so much. She didn't want him to hurt anymore but be happy.

However, when the orangette finally realized what she had said to her best friend, she quickly brought both hands to her mouth – gray eyes wide in fear at the damaged she had just caused.

Looking over at Izuku, Tsubaki's heart tore into pieces at the sight before her. Izuku sat stun on the ground, his green eyes wide and empty with his mouth agape. Tears were silently streaming from his eyes as he directed his gaze towards the ground, not once glancing up at Tsubaki. The only time Tsubaki has ever seen Izuku this crushed was the day after he went to the doctor about his quirk. It was his last check up to see if there was a possibility of one forming a quirk, and the doctor had concluded he was destined to be quirkless. That day at school, he sat on the floor completely crushed – the entire class taking pity on him before eventually making fun of him again. During that time, they were simply classmates then, Tsubaki looking from a distance at him in pity.

"I-Izuku…I am so sorry," Tsubaki apologized with a bleeding hurt.

 _What has she done?_

"I-I was just so angry…I…I'm sorry."

Tsubaki now had her face in her hands, bowing down as far as she could to her dear friend.

" _How could I have said that!?"_ She thought disappointedly to herself. _"What is wrong with me!? I'm no better than Bakugou."_

"I-It's o-okay, Tsuchan," Izuku said, slowly gathering his things and standing up.

"Izuku—."

"No…it's fine; I…I probably deserved that," He said in a quiet voice. "I'm going to head back to class now…see you, Tsuchan."

And with that, Izuku was gone, leaving Tsubaki alone under their tree. For the remainder of the day, Tsubaki replayed lunch repeatedly in her head, cursing herself for how stupid she was. She couldn't even concentrate in class, eventually just giving up and focusing on her thoughts. Before class ended, she accused herself to the restroom – hoping to clear her mind as she refreshed herself. By the time she got back to class, nearly everyone was gone – everyone except for Izuku.

He was waiting at her desk.

Taking a deep breath, Tsubaki approached him. "…Izuku."

Izuku didn't respond immediately – instead he kept his focus towards the ground as if he was in deep thought. Tsubaki was going to call him again when he finally spoke.

"Oh, Tsuchan! I didn't see you there," He exclaimed with a weak smile. "Um…you ready to go?"

Something was wrong with him; he looked even downer than before. Did something happen to him when she went to the restroom? Tsubaki was unsure – all she knew was there was something wrong with her Cinnamon Roll.

"…Yeah," Tsubaki answered slowly, gathering her school bag and following Izuku out the classroom.

"Is something wrong, Izuku?" The orangette asked earnestly as the best friends left out the school building. He had been so quiet since they left the classroom – she never seen him like this before. Did her words hurt him that much? "Are you…mad at me? I really am sorry about what I said earlier! I just—."

"Wait—what!? No, Tsuchan! I could never be mad at you," Izuku said in a frantic, waving his hands and weakly smiling. "I just…Kacchan paid a little visit to me after class."

" _ **WHAT!?—."**_

"Oh, Tsuchan – it was nothing! Really!" Izuku exclaimed in even more of a frantic. "It's just…never mind. It's nothing."

"Izuku—," Before Tsubaki could say anything else, Izuku directed his attention to the school pond. Following his gaze, the orangette noticed something floating in the water being nibbled on by the fish. Izuku slowly approached it, pulling it out the water and just staring at it. When Tsubaki finally got a good look at it, she gasped.

 _It was Izuku's Hero Analysis for the Future notebook._

Izuku's most prize possession that was found in the school's pond, burned and heavily damaged.

"Izuku, what happened!?" The orangette asked in a panic. "You would never treat your notebook like this… _ **who did this?!**_ "

"It's nothing," The green haired boy said in a strained voice. "I'm sorry, Tsuchan, but I gotta go."

Izuku left Tsubaki before she could say anything else to him. Something else did happen to him while she was gone and from the burn marks she saw on his notebook, she knew who exactly did it. With a new fire in a blaze within her, the orangette created a rectangular platform and hopped on it, gripping it tightly as she took to the air searching for a certain ash blonde. It no doubt would take all to find him, but knowing his lackeys pretty well, they probably went to somewhere close to the arcades. There were only so few in their town, so Tsubaki allowed that knowledge to guide her in her search, and eventually she was able to spot them.

Locating Bakugou and his gang, Tsubaki darted her platform towards the alley they were in and directed it head on to Bakugou as she crashed into him. Before he could even register what was going on, Tsubaki had him against a wall, gripping the collar of his uniform tightly.

"What the hel—Baka!?" He growled, easily slapping her hands away and pushing her back. "What are you doing here!?"

"Did I not say to leave Izuku alone!" Tsubaki said in anger. "What did you do to him!?"

" _ **THE NERD SHOULD HAVE NEVER GOTTEN IN MY WAY!"**_ Bakugou argued with clench fist.

" _ **YOU IDIOT! HE'S QUIRKLESS! WHAT CAN HE DO TO YOU!"**_ Tsubaki exclaimed, violently pushing Bakugou. _**"Why do you feel the need to bring someone down who is already beneath you!? What's the point!?"**_

Bakugou just glared at her. "Leave…now."

"I'm not leaving till I beat your ass," Tsubaki said lowly.

"Um…guys?" Tsubaki heard Bakugou's lackey say.

" _ **WHAT!?"**_ Both the hotheads shouted at the two. Their sight was then greeted by two terrified boys pointing to something behind them. Confused, the two turned around to find a large sludge substance behind them. Before Tsubaki could even reacted, she felt a hard shove from her side – her mind capturing a few words before everything went black.

" _ **Tsubaki! Get out the way!"**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _Heat._

That is all Tsubaki felt as she clawed out blindly for something or someone to help her. She was stuck – something heavy was covering legs and she didn't have enough energy to use her quirk to move it. There was so much smoke and heat; she could barely breath than conjure up enough power to make a bubble. The only thing that worked right at the moment was her vision, and all that did was make her curse at how useless she was.

 _Bakugou needed her help._

He was captured in the sludge villain that attacked them, and no one was coming to save him.

 _Why wasn't anyone coming to save him – to save them?_

Tsubaki barely cried – she hated to do so, but tears couldn't stop as realization dawn on her on how much danger they were really in. And neither could truly use their quirk to save themselves; his was causing the damage around them and she was too weak to even use hers. They couldn't be their own heroes today – they actually needed a professional one.

 _But who!?_

Through the small openings of the smoke, Tsubaki could see heroes such as Kamui Woods and Death Arms staring in conflict at the scene before them, frozen as to what to do. This did not help in soothing the fear Tsubaki could feel growing in the back of her head. This only validated how bad the situation really was. If the heroes could do nothing, then who could really save them?

 _Who was brave enough to take that risk?..._

" _ **Tsuchan! Kacchan!"**_

" _Izuku?"_

It all happened so quickly. At first Tsubaki just saw a blur of green, but when it was close enough, she quickly recognized the terrified face of her best friend coming towards them.

" _Izuku!"_ She thought, feeling her heart pound against her chest in fear. _"What are you doing!? Get away from here! It's not safe!"_

Tsubaki desperately wanted to scream out these words to Izuku, but her dry throat wouldn't allow words to pass through. She instead watched in complete horror as Izuku came charging into the chaos she was trapped in. She didn't understand how no one was stopping him – or why he even made the stupid decision to come charging in in the first place. He's quirkless for goodness sake – what could he possibly do to help them.

" _Why are you always doing this, Izuku!?"_ Tsubaki cried to herself. _"Just stop it, dammit! You're only going to get yourself killed! Run away!"_

" _ **Tsuchan!"**_ Izuku yelled with tears in his eyes. He was looking directly at her as he dodged the sludge villain and counterattacked with his bookbag. The action left Tsubaki speechless – her mouth agape as he ran into the sludge villain and began to claw at him. _**"Everything's gonna be alright, okay? Don't cry…I'm here…okay?"**_

It was a lie; everything was not going to be okay. Izuku was quirkless with no power whatsoever. Nothing he did could possibly help them – and yet, even though Tsubaki knew this, she couldn't help but feel a little better about everything at Izuku's words. Though it was sad seeing him claw futility into the villain, just seeing the pure determination in his frighten eyes gave the orangette a reassurance she never knew she needed.

 _Even though he was quirkless, he would still risk his life to save them._

"Izuku…," Tsubaki croaked, allowing her tears to overflow. "Life is truly unfair…the weakest of us all, and yet, the biggest hero amongst us. I'm so sorry…"

"Just a little bit longer, kid," The villain chuckled darkly before raising an arm at Izuku. "And I'm done playing with you!"

Tsubaki's stormy eyes grew wide in horror at the action that was going to take place next, and out of nowhere finally found her voice.

" _ **IZUKU!"**_ The orangette screamed as the sludge villain made impact towards Izuku.

A large cloud of smoke erupted as the villain made his attack, clouding the horrific results of his action. Tsubaki could no longer breath – her lungs refusing to work as her entire body went into shock. This had to be dream – a nightmare. None of this could be real. Izuku was alright. Nothing happened to him. Tsubaki wanted to believe this so badly as her body slowly slipped in and out of consciousness. It seemed all too unreal to be true until she finally felt herself going into darkness. Within the small clearings of smoke, Tsubaki could get a small glimpse of a bright smile before everything went black.

* * *

 _Fin._

 **Author's Note:** Happy New Year Everyone! Hope you all are prosperous and blessed this new year. Forgive me; I have deleted chapter I and II again, but this is my last time doing so because I finally have the direction and tone I want for these chapters, and as a present, I also posted chapter III. I hope you all have a great day and enjoy the chapters!


	3. Chapter II

_**To be a champ you have to believe in yourself when no one else will - Sugar Ray Robinson**_

* * *

 **Chapter II**

 **Yūei High School**

* * *

" _Some people have to learn_

 _Some people wait there turn_

 _Some people but not me_

 _I was born a champion," – Champion; Chipmunk ft. Chris Brown_

* * *

Tachibana Tsubaki was fearless – or so she thought. They say that you believe you are invincible until the most mortal of all things happen to you, and Tsubaki couldn't agree more. Sitting on the back of the ambulance, Tsubaki thought silently to herself as the paramedics examined her bruised legs – her mind too far gone from the events that had happened that day. She didn't even flinch when the paramedics informed her that they'll be taking her to the hospital – just silently moved further into the ambulance as they closed the door in front of her. Reality finally didn't return to her until her father came to the hospital. It was the first time in the long time she had ever really seen any type of emotion on his face.

 _She had never seen him so scared before._

Maybe that's why she had remembered that day so well.

Six months had passed since that incident. And yet, Tsubaki could still remember every single moment of it so vividly. Sometimes when she closed her eyes, she would go back to it – the smoke, the fire, the fear.

She could have died that day.

 _Bakugou and Izuku could have died that day._

And there was nothing she could have done about it. She was so weak – she couldn't even save herself. Their lives would have been over if All Might hadn't showed it.

 _If he had never came…_

She tried her best not to think about it. She tried her best to make everything normal again since that incident. But things never did.

As much as neither would admit it to the world, Tsubaki knew all three of them were forever changed from that moment. Bakugou has been the quietest she ever seen since meeting him. His attitude was still the same, but his bullying had died done a lot. Tsubaki often wondered what went through his mind about everything – it no doubt was probably a reality check for him like it was for her. She had foolishly thought she was so strong till that moment – how could she have been so stupid. If anything, the main thing that Tsubaki learned from that moment in time was that she had to train a lot harder if she even dreamed on being on All Might's level. She never wanted to be so weak again that Izuku had to risk his life to save her. She couldn't live with herself if anything happened to him on her watch.

Izuku was quirkless – he needed people like her to protect him, not the other way around.

Tsubaki had hoped after everything he had finally understood that, but something else had changed about him.

"Sorry, Tsuchan, but I'm busy then," Izuku apologized, bowing to the orangette before quickly walking past her. "I'll make it up to you, I promise, but I got to go now – see you later."

He always promised to make things up to her later – festival dates, movie nights, manga shopping, but for six months later never came, just excuse after excuse. They used to spend all their free time with each other, but now, it seemed as though Tsubaki was always by herself nowadays. She tried her best not to think too much about it, but it was hard to after six months of continual rejection without a given reason. She understood being busy but being busy without giving an explanation as to why every time you asked them was an obvious hint of someone trying not to spend time with you. And as much as Tsubaki didn't want to believe it, it was the only explanation for Izuku's behavior.

 _He was trying to avoid her._

Why?

There was only one logical reason, and even the orangette couldn't deny it.

 _She had blown up on him for trying to be a hero._

And now because of that she was friendless – alone as she was when she first moved into town when she was a little girl.

It was a hard pill to swallow, but Tsubaki couldn't deny that she deserved it. A person like her didn't deserve to have Izuku as a friend – she was way too loud and aggressive, and her temper was just as bad as Bakugou's. She was amazed that he even stayed by her side for this long. It was only a matter a time before he drifted away from her, she just never imagined it to hurt this much. It was hard not seeing his freckled face every day or see his green eyes light up whenever he talked heroes. She even found herself missing him muttering about hero statistics – and she _hated_ the muttering.

" _Why do I sound like a heartbreak song?"_ Tsubaki pondered to herself as she slurped up some ramen. _"If I didn't know any better then I could have sworn I was in love with him or something – like that's possible."_

The orangette was currently at home having dinner when her thoughts wondered to the green haired boy. It was all brought upon when she was going over her high school submissions and had started her application for Yūei High School. Yūei was their dream school, and even though she knew it was impossible for him to come in with her, it didn't seem right going there without him.

If anything, he wanted it more than she did.

"…Oh, Izuku," The orangette sighed, picking up the application.

 _Will this pain ever leave her?_

"Fuckin' feelings," Tsubaki groaned before finally standing up from her spot on her bedroom floor.

Stretching out her limbs, Tsubaki's stormy eyes casually glanced over to her window when she caught sight of ash blonde in her line of vision. Turning completely to the window, she looked across away to the crimson eyes of the bastard that was her next-door neighbor and frowned. It was truly ironic and cruel with how much they disliked one another that their bedrooms were right across from each other. They glared at each other for a moment before he threw up a finger her way, and she in return shot two back. She watched as he mouthed "bitch" at her and she gladly called him a "dick" in return. Eventually she got tired of looking at his ugly mug and closed her curtains in his face. He no doubt didn't take kindly to this and was probably cursing her out, but she didn't care.

Bakugou has been nothing but a pain to her.

 _Even though he did save her from that sludge villain._

He was still a dick though.

"But I'll have to thank him one day," Tsubaki confessed quietly to herself.

Tsubaki spent the rest of the evening finishing up her submissions and prepping them for mail the next day. Within two months, she got all of her entrance exam dates mailed back to her with Yūei being the last one she had to take.

To say she was nervous was an understatement; Tsubaki took off work the day before just so she could get the proper amount of rest she needed to be ready. She was the first person with her surname to ever attempt to get into Yūei; her chances of getting in was much lower than any average student who usually took the entrance exams. If anything, the idea was crazy in itself. She has been judged in every aspect of her life because of the blood that ran through her veins so what was the possibility of her not being judged the same during the exams.

Was she just being hopeful or stupid at this point?

But what was the point of striving to be one of the greatest heroes to have ever lived if she didn't try to aim for the greatest hero high school of all time. Yes – she was the first of her family to ever go to such a school, but what if she was accepted?

What if this was all she needed to finally see her life turn around?

It was a huge gamble at this point and Tsubaki was willing to take it no matter what.

With a fully energized body, Tsubaki walked out her home overflowing with confidence and determination. She knew once everyone got word of her last name and noticed the particular orange shade of her hair, she would be ostracized from the jump. She had to go in with a brave front, laying the law that she was no one to mess with or everyone would get the idea they could treat her any old way – which was definitely not an option. Tsubaki refused to be the tormented girl that she was years ago – no, people were going to treat her right and respect her.

Closing her home gate, she took two steps into the street when she froze in place at the person in front of her. With messy green locks and a tired face, green eyes beamed at Tsubaki as a large smile belonging to none other than Izuku greeted her.

"Good morning, Tsuchan."

"…Izuku?" Tsubaki breathed, speechless at the freckled faced boy's sudden appearance. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Today's the day of Yūei's entrance exam," He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "And…I couldn't imagine taking it without my best friend by my side."

If there was one thing Tsubaki regretted about being friends with Izuku, it was how contagious his crying trait was. Tsubaki _**hated**_ crying, and yet, the green haired boy always had her in tears somehow. Even now, when the orangette had the resolve of going to the exams with a stone face, she cracked and now her eyes were glistening with a single tear running down her cheek.

" _ **WHA! TSUCHAN, WHY ARE YOU CRYING!?"**_ Izuku exclaimed, running over to her. _**"IS SOMETHING WRONG!?"**_

"I'm fine," Tsubaki snuffed, embarrassed she allowed her emotions to take over.

 _She really did miss him._

After cleaning up her face, the orangette then thought about what Izuku said – her eyes growing wide as realization dawn on her.

"Wait… _ **WHAT DO YOU MEAN TAKING THE EXAMS!?"**_ Tsubaki exclaimed, grabbing Izuku's shoulders. _**"IZUKU, YOU HAVE NO QUIRK! WHY ARE YOU TAKING THE EXAMS!?"**_

It was that very moment of being excited to see her friend again, that Tsubaki wanted to castrate her dear friend. He was seriously going to take the Yūei entrance exams with her – and he didn't seem sorry about it either. Tsubaki was furious beyond comprehension – if it was any other person then Izuku would be knocked out, but since it was him, Tsubaki didn't have it in her to harm him. Instead she walked to the exams with him pissed. Yes – she was happy to be with her friend again, but she was pissed it was under such circumstances.

"Come on, Tsuchan," Izuku begged. "Don't be this way – you know how long I've wanted this. I couldn't just give it up. That's why I've been so absent – I've been training for this."

Tsubaki didn't say anything, but kept her arms crossed and eyes narrowed as she walked with the green haired boy in the frigid weather. She knew if she looked at Izuku's puppy eyes then she wouldn't be mad at him anymore so tried her best not to even glance his way.

It was ridiculous at this point. He was quirkless – why couldn't he understand it was just impossible for him to be a Pro Hero. No matter how hard he trained, there was no way he could possibly make it in the real world as a hero. Didn't their encounter with that villain teach him that? Apparently not, because his idiotic behind was sitting right next to her in during the orientation meeting about the exam and nothing she could say at this point could make him go home. It didn't help either that she was sitting right next to Mr. Asshole too.

 _Why was life constantly testing her?_

"What's up, Yūei candidates!" An ultra-load greeted announced as lights suddenly turned on, revealing a flashy figure at a podium. "Thanks for tunin' to me! Your school DJ!"

The figure was a tall, slender man with long, spiky blonde hair and a small mustache. He wore a pair of headphones with the word "HAGE" written on the headband and a pair of sunglasses. He also wore a black jacket with an upturned collar complete with studs, a tan, studded shoulder pads, black pants, a red studded belt, black boots, and black fingerless gloves. His neck was covered by a directional speaker.

Tsubaki initially didn't know who he was until Izuku gushed over him as being the Voice Hero: Present Mic.

" _So he's Present Mic,"_ Tsubaki thought to herself. _"He looks creepy despite being a radio personality."_

"Like your application said," Present Mic announced with a large smile. "Today you rockin' boys and girls will out there conducting ten-minute mock battle super hip urban settings. Gird your loins, my friends. After I drop the mic here, you'll head to your specified battle center, sound good?"

It was at that about that everyone in the room glanced down at their cards to see which center they'll be going to. Grimacing at her photo presented on the card, Tsubaki then directed her vision to the battle center she'll be placed in before glancing over to Izuku's card. To her disappointment, they weren't in the same center.

" _So much for looking after him,"_ The orangette internally pouted. It was then that she noticed that a certain ash blonde was peering over at her card.

"I see," Bakugou said, bringing his eyes back to his own card. "They're splitting us up so we can't work with any of our friends."

"You actually consider us friends?" Tsubaki questioned with a glare.

"Hell no," Bakugou huffed, returning the glare. "More like an annoying bitch who I would have preferred to crush during the exam. Dammit it."

It literally took all of Izuku to hold Tsubaki back from attacking Bakugou then. The orangette was surprised that the green haired boy was even able to keep her in place. He felt a lot stronger than she remembered.

"Additionally, you two," A voice stated, earning all three classmates' attention. "The ones with the unkempt hair!"

Standing up in a perfectly statured position, was a tall and muscular young man with black hair and rectangular half-rim glasses that went along with the serious attitude he was giving off. His eyes were just as rectangular as his glasses, as well is his jaw. Even the finger he was pointing at them was rectangular.

"May we help you, sir?" Tsubaki inquired with an attitude laced voice. She did not appreciate being pointed at or called out.

"Yes!" He said sternly. "He's been muttering this entire time and you've been causing a racket with that attitude of yours. Stop this instant. If you can't bother to take this seriously, leave. You're distracting the rest of us."

"You say _**WHA—!?"**_

"S-Sorry! We'll be quieter. I promise!" Izuku exclaimed fearfully, interrupting Tsubaki and pulling her back to her seat.

A wave of laughter then erupted in the room as everyone took their turn in laughing at the duo at their own expense. With reddening cheeks, Tsubaki allowed her hair to fall over her face as she refused to look at any of the people laughing at her. She hated that people were looking down at her, but she knew she probably wouldn't like being kicked out before the exams even started for beating up a student. Izuku was right in pulling her back down, because she was honestly seeing red for a moment.

It wasn't long afterwards that the information section of the exam was over and that they were standing at the gates of their center. Though earlier was embarrassing, Tsubaki was ready to prove that she wasn't a force to be reckon with. With her yoga pants and tank top on, the orangette stood in front of the gate stretching as she mentally tried to prepare herself for the mock battle. She couldn't deny that she didn't feel eyes on her as she was getting ready – she felt them ever since she entered the school. It was obvious a lot of them had figured out who she was and kept their distance from her, eyeing her wearily with their whispers loud in her ear.

" _Whoa, they actually allowed her to take the exams?!"_

" _I know, right? Can you believe it?"_

" _Has the school lost its mind?"_

" _She can't be trusted."_

" _She doesn't belong here—."_

"Just ignore them, Tsubaki," The orangette whispered to herself. "You got this."

" _I just hope nothing bad happens to Izuku. I really hate how we couldn't be in the same center."_

The exams started with no alarm so as soon as everyone was ready, they charged into the urban center ready for anything the school had to throw at them. Tsubaki immediately took to the skies, creating a light orange rectangular platform and riding on it in the air. The battle center looked like any regular city with large skyscrapers and roads and streets that went on for miles. It seemed almost too real to actually be a training ground for a high school. How could they even afford to make a city this large for pretend?

" _I guess that's Yūei for you,"_ Tsubaki commented, gripping her platform tightly as she soared across the skies. Looking down at the streets, she observed all the Pointers in action as the other candidates began to take them on head on. They were your basic combat machinery – ones used for military and war combat.

"That doesn't seem so hard to handle," Tsubaki said. "But there's so many – what's the best way to gather my points without tiring myself out. If I continuously made three orbs at minimum size to attack with, I'll be putting out more energy than receiving – I'll be worn out in minutes. So that means…"

Deciding on a game plan, Tsubaki guided her platform to hover above a center plex of Pointers, doing a quick glance around before she continued with her plan. Taking a deep breath, the orangette then lifted her platform further into the sky before jumping off and creating a sphere around her as she came crashing down upon a 3 Pointer. As soon as she crushed the 3 Pointer and made contact with ground, the orangette then immediately collected the kinetic energy from the crash and released it back as a burst to the surrounding pointers around her. Nearly six were taken out from her burst – all being 3 Pointers, raking her up to 21 points. Tsubaki repeated this tactic 2 more times before she finally began to feel herself tire out. She was at 56 points when she finally decided to retreat for cover.

" _There's still some time left,"_ Tsubaki observed, finding a safe zone in an alley. _"My best bet is to take some time to recover before going out for more points."_

While taking her break, Tsubaki took notice of a group of candidates taking on some Pointers a few feet away from. They weren't that hard to miss with how striking in contrast their hair was. One had vibrant red, spiky hair and crimson eyes and sharp teeth. Next to him stood a boy with loud yellow hair that had hint of a black lightening streak in it. The only girl amongst them was the most noticeable of them all – she had unruly, short pink hair with yellow horns protruding from her head with pink skin, black sclera, and yellow irises. From a distance, it looked as if they were working together to gather their points because of the way they were covering each other's back. However, they had a blindside which was about to be exploited by a 3 Pointer until Tsubaki covered them with a force field. As soon as the machine launched to attack them it was stopped by Tsubaki's shield and immediately destroyed when the orangette fired a disk at it. When the group finally realized what had happened, Tsubaki was off to find another hiding spot before she caught the attention of a Pointer. She was so far gone that she didn't even hear a faint "thank you" from the red head.

By the time the mock battles finished, Tsubaki was on the verge of fainting. Without meaning to, she spent the rest of her time protecting the other candidates from ambushes by the Pointers rather than resting up properly. Though it was a strain, the orangette did not regret her actions – she wasn't a person too keen on watching others to get hurt so when she can, she tries her best to shield others from danger. The only backlash of it was that she was so tired that she fell asleep as soon as she got home, missing work entirely that evening. Fortunately for her, she had a very understanding boss.

Waiting for the results was probably the worst part of everything about the exams. For one, Tsubaki wasn't very patient unless it came to children, and even then, her limits were being tested. For second, she couldn't even enjoy Izuku's company like she used to because he was nervous about the results as well. He was taking the outcome of everything a lot harder than she had imagined. When he told her that he made not one point during the exams, she wasn't surprised because it was expected. He was quirkless – he wasn't really going to earn any points. What threw her off though was how absolutely devastated he was about it – as if he was 100% sure he had a chance of actually passing. Tsubaki didn't know what to say to him to make him feel better. Even now as she watched him blank out into space in his own living room, she didn't know what to tell him.

"Cinnamon Roll…you still there?" Tsubaki asked concern, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Yeah…," Izuku sighed, lowering his head. It killed Tsubaki seeing him like this, but it was the inevitable. He wasn't going to get in, period. "Have your results came yet, Tsuchan?"

"No," The orangette sighed, leaning against the boy. "I'm still waiting too."

"Hey, kiddoes," Mama Midoriya chimed in from over her shoulder. "I know…Waiting for the results is terrible."

"We guess," The duo commented together – both voices drained and tired.

"No matter what, I just you both to know I'm proud of you!" Mama Midoriya continued. "And I think you're both really cool!"

"Thanks mom."

"It really means a lot to hear that, Mama Midoriya," Tsubaki said sincerely before standing up from the couch. It was getting pretty late and she still needed to get some homework done before school tomorrow. "It really does…well, I better get going. Don't want it to be too dark when I walk home."

"Okay, sweetie," Mama Midoriya said, giving Tsubaki a hug. "Thank you again for joining us for dinner. Believe or not, having you tonight really lifted Izuku's spirit…even though he's not showing it."

"Of course, anytime!" Tsubaki said, turning back to the couch and giving Izuku a hug. "Don't sweat it, Izuku. At least you tried, even if I gave you lip about it. Not a lot of people had the courage to do what you did and for that I'm proud of you too!"

It took Izuku a moment to register what Tsubaki said. When it finally sunk in, some color returned to his face as he gave his best friend a genuine smile. "Thank you, Tsuchan…I'm proud of you too."

Tsubaki nodded. "Thanks, Izuku."

It was close to nine when Tsubaki finally made it home. Removing her shoes, the orangette almost didn't notice the mail by the door as she put on her house shoes. Going through the pile, Tsubaki saw nothing but bills until she came across an envelope addressed to her. Flipping it over, she recognized Yūei's symbol immediately. Before Tsubaki could do anything else, her phone went off from a text from Izuku. In all caps, he screamed out:

" **I GOT IN!"**

* * *

 _Fin._


	4. Chapter III

_**Don't judge the gentle; their gentleness is stronger than your fears and angers. Don't judge those who have lost their gentleness; you haven't lived their lives. In all people, hope for the gentleness to return and see gentleness for the beauty that it is - C. JoyBell C.**_

* * *

 **Chapter III**

 **Class 1-A**

* * *

" _We could be heroes_

 _We could be heroes_

 _Me and you_

 _We could be heroes_

 _We could be heroes," – Heroes; Alesso ft. Tove Lo_

* * *

"…"

"What?"

"Heh…your tie, Izuku."

"My tie!? Is something wrong with it!?"

Tsubaki chuckled to herself as she watched Izuku frantically look down at his tie in a panic. The red material was not tied properly – making it look shorter than it should be. But instead of redoing it, Tsubaki merely straightened out the collar of her friend's uniform, dusting off his shoulders to make him look fresh and presentable. She saw no need to fix his tie – it made the uniform his own.

"Calm down, Cinnamon Roll. You look fine," The orangette hummed, smiling sincerely.

The comment made Izuku's cheeks tint a pink and had the green-haired boy looking away from his friend. "T-thanks, Tsuchan. You look great in your uniform too, and your hair—."

"What? Do you not like it?!" Tsubaki interrupted in a panic, grabbing the ends of hair. Though the orangette usually wore her mane wild and free, a few days ago she decided to get it shaped up and trimmed for the new school year – shortening its length to mid-back and cleaning up her bangs. The new look allowed you to see more of her face and actually had her hair complimenting the shape of her head.

"Wha—no!" Izuku said. "I think it looks great on you! Really great!"

"Oh, that's a relief," Tsubaki breathed, leaning her against the train window. The duo was currently abroad a metro train, heading to the utter parts of the city. Since their high school was so far from where they lived, they had to catch a train to get there. It was one of the many new things they had to get used to since they were now students of Yūei High School. "Don't want to be looking ridiculous on my first day of high school."

"Yeah, I feel ya," Izuku agreed, leaning back as well. He was just as nervous as she was – probably even more.

"…so, are you going to tell me now?"

"Huh?"

Izuku turned to face Tsubaki and found the orangette eyeing him carefully – her stormy eyes determined and focus to get answers. "How you passed the exams."

"I…um," Izuku began, averting his eyes to the ground. "I told you, Tsuchan, I received Rescue Points."

"I know that," The orangette said, rolling her eyes and sitting back up. "But how did you receive Rescue Points?"

"I told you, Tsuchan, I have a quirk no—."

"Then how come you haven't shown it to me yet?" Tsubaki pushed, crossing her arms over her chest. Ever since they got their results back and Izuku confessed to having a quirk, Tsubaki has been trying to get him to show it to her. He refused every time, coming up with some excuse or just ignoring her all together. She was getting quite irritated by it because she has shown him her quirk plenty of times and it wasn't a problem whatsoever. He won't even explain to her what it is. A part of her was beginning to think he was lying, and the results somehow got messed up.

As much as Tsubaki wanted to be happy for Izuku getting into Yūei, she couldn't help but doubt the school's decision on accepting him. As far as she knew, Izuku was still quirkless and Yūei was not a safe place for a quirkless boy to be. She was honestly surprised he came back from the entrance exams without one scratch. It was just hard for her to believe he actually made it in and that he had a quirk now. Growing up, he showed not one sign that his quirk was developed, so to have it show it now was quite questionable.

"Tsuchan, we'll be in the same homeroom. There'll be plenty of times for you to see my quirk," Izuku tried to reason but Tsubaki wasn't letting up.

"But I don't want to see it with those strangers; I want to see it in private – a demonstration just for me!" Tsubaki huffed, sticking up her nose. The nerve he had having her see his quirk for the first time around people they didn't even know; what was he thinking!?

"You're causing a scene on the train…," Izuku muttered.

"I don't give a damn!"

" _ **TSUCHAN!"**_ Izuku exclaimed, frantically shaking his hands in disapproval. "You're wearing Yūei's official uniform! You shouldn't be using such language – especially in a public place!"

Rolling her gray eyes, Tsubaki leaned back against her and pouted – acknowledging the fact that Izuku was right and that she had look presentable in her uniform. Though she still wasn't done with the subject, she decided it was best to wait until they were out of the public eye to further discuss it.

It was nearing first bell when Izuku and Tsubaki finally made it to Yūei High School. With a great chunk of the student body already in classes, the duo had no problem whatsoever finding their own, stopping immediately once their eyes set upon a large door with "1-A" written on it in bold red characters.

"Wow, we actually made it time!" Izuku said, placing his hand on the door and opening it. "Let's hope our new classmates are friendly."

"Well as long as Sparky Bastard and Stick Up My Ass Joe isn't one of them, they'll be bearable to m—."

" _ **Get your feet off the desk now!"**_

" _ **Huh!?"**_

"Fuck our lives," Tsubaki cursed lowly, watching as a scene unfolded by the two people she really didn't want to see the most. With displeased expressions, Izuku and Tsubaki watched as Bakugou and the boy who introduced himself as Iida Tenya disputed about a desk. No words could describe how ridiculous the argument was so they along with the rest of the class just watched.

" _This is stupid,"_ The orangette thought, eventually cutting off all attention to the commotion. Taking note of how everyone was paying attention to the argument, Tsubaki decided to take that time to find her seat in class. Everyone was too focused on those idiots too pay any mind to her and figure out who she was.

Tsubaki found her seat behind a tall, lean boy with dark hair with spiked ends and a boy with a bird-shaped head. She was nearly situated in her seat when she took notice of Iida approaching Izuku. She was prepared to stand up and defend the freckled faced boy when saw they were just simply talking. Well she thought it was talking from where she was seated, the Iida guy kept on moving his hands in rectangular movements.

" _Is everything about that guy rectangular?"_ Tsubaki wondered, getting comfortable in her seat. Glancing at her watch, she saw there was still some time before class started and decided to rest her eyelids for a bit. Due to Izuku wanting to be at the school by a certain, he practically dragged her out her bed earlier that day. The boy was very fortunate that she cared deeply about him or she would have certainly shared some words with him.

Closing her eyelids for just a moment, the orangette got some rest in before opening her eyes to a horrific sight. Standing near Izuku, Iida, and a brunette girl was a slender and tall man with messy, shoulder-length black hair. He was extremely pale and worn-out with unkempt facial hair and tired and droopy eyes. With a shock expression, Tsubaki wondered how long she allowed her eyes to rest before this gruesome creature entered their classroom.

" _Who the hell is that!?"_

"It took you all eight seconds before you shut up," The figure commented with an impassive expression. "That's not gonna work – time is precious; rational students would understand that."

Tsubaki quirked her eyebrow at this statement.

" _Why did he sound like a…?"_

"Hello," He greeted unenthusiastically, glancing across the class. "I'm Aizawa Shouta – your teacher."

" _OUR WHAT!?"_

"The fuck," Tsubaki cursed confused.

"Right…let's get to it," He said, reaching into a yellow sleeping bag and pulling out a deep blue track suit with red and white designs. "Put these on and head outside."

Everyone looked at the tracksuit wide eyed, curious as to what they might be doing in them.

* * *

"Izuku, why does our sensei look like depression and failure," Tsubaki whispered to Izuku. The green-haired boy was standing right next to the orangette as their class gathered outside on the training fields. Next to them stood Iida and the bubbly brunette from earlier with Bakugou to the right of Tsubaki. Glancing at the ash blonde, she found him glaring at her and she stuck her tongue out in response.

"H-he doesn't look all that, Tsuchan," Izuku tried to defend, glancing down at the orangette and finding her giving him a certain look. "What?"

"Bullshit," She said lowly. "That's like saying no one here has taken notice of who I am."

Which was the very opposite.

It didn't take long for their classmates to find out who Tsubaki was; her hair boldly proclaimed it. For that reason, a lot of them were keeping their distance away from her, which she didn't mind at all. At this point in her life, Tsubaki was used to how people treated her. She didn't care of none of them ever interacted or befriended, because she knew they never would. She was a Tachibana after all. People did not trust her and did not want her around them. If Izuku wasn't there then she truly would have been lonely.

"Today you all will be taking a Quirk Assessment Test," Aizawa-sensei announced, holding a ball in his hand.

"What!? A quirk assessment test!?" They all blurted out together in unison.

"But…?" The brunette began looking displeased. "What about orientation? We're going to miss it."

Glancing from her to Aizawa-sensei, Tsubaki could tell the man didn't give a damn about orientation. It honestly looked as if he didn't give a damn about anything. She had yet to see him form any other expression except for the "I really don't want to be here" face. He didn't even look like he liked kids – and they _were_ kids.

"If you really want to make it in the big leagues, you can't waste time on pointless ceremonies," Sensei declared, turning his back to them. Gasps could be heard among the crowd of students from this. "Here at Yūei, we're not tethered to traditions. That means I get to run my class however I see fit."

"So basically, we're fucked," Tsubaki whispered with a frown.

"Looks like it," A voice replied from behind Tsubaki. Glancing over her shoulder, Tsubaki saw the familiar face of the red head boy she shielded from the entrance exams. When he noticed her looking at her, he gave her a toothy smile, showing off all his razor-sharp teeth.

"Hey!" He greeted quietly.

"Um…hi," Tsubaki replied, turning back to the front.

" _Weird…was he being friendly to me?"_ She thought.

"You've been taking standard test most of your lives – but you never got to use your quirks in physical exams before," Aizawa-sensei continued. "The country is still trying to pretend we're all created equally by not letting those with the most power excel – it's not rational; one day the minister of education will learn. Bakugou."

Aizawa-sensei then turned his attention to the ash blonde next to Tsubaki.

"You managed to get the most points on the entrance exam – what was your farthest distance throw with a soft ball when you were in Junior High?"

"67 meters, I think," He answered.

"Right. Try doing it with your quirk," Sensei ordered.

Aizawa-sensei told Bakugou to go to the center of a white circle out in the field, handing him a ball on his way. He instructed the ash blonde to use his quirk to throw it. Bakugou looked at him carefully before stretching his arm. He then prepared to pitch. Everything was going normal until his face contorted into a wicked smile – a smile Izuku and Tsubaki were all too used to. Stepping forward, Bakugou released the ball from his hand with a loud explosion, screaming out his signature word.

" **DIEEE!"**

"Typical Bakugou," Tsubaki commented with an eye roll.

"Why does it seem like he's gotten more aggressive," Izuku said.

"He's feeding off of the attention," Tsubaki stated, noticing how the rest of the class were getting hyped off of Bakugou's demonstration. They were no doubt excited about stepping up and showing the class what they got to bring to the stage. However, Aizawa-sensei didn't seem to please by the eagerness.

"So this looks fun, huh?" Aizawa-sensei said all of sudden, causing even Tsubaki to tense up. The tone of voice he was using – it didn't sound safe at all. "You have three years to become a hero – you think it's all gonna be games and play time."

The whole class stared at him blankly, unsure of what he was getting it. He noticed this and scoffed.

"Idiots," He said forming an eerily smile. "Today you will be competing in eight physical tests to engage your potential – whoever comes in last has none, and will be expelled immediately."

" _Expelled!"_ Tsubaki thought. Her eyes immediately went to Izuku who was frozen in place in shock. It was obvious from his stance that he was fearful and for the first time all day, Tsubaki really did hope he was telling the truth about his quirk. Finding out you didn't get accepted within the privacy of your home was in a completely different scenario than getting expelled in front of an entire class you dreamed your life of being in. Tsubaki did not want Izuku to go through that type of embarrassment and shame – especially in front of Bakugou of all people. If he really did have a quirk, she hoped it would keep him from being expelled.

"Like I said, I get to decide on how this class runs," Aizawa-sensei declared, lifting up his hair to reveal his wicked expression even further. "Understand?"

It was at that moment that Tsubaki grabbed a hold of Izuku's hand. This was hazing – bullying, and Tsubaki did not like it. She especially did not like how Aizawa-sensei was eyeing down Izuku. It was like he was purposefully trying to get him expelled. This didn't sit well with her.

"Izuku, you are going to be fine, okay?" The orangette stated, sending a confident smile to her shivering friend. With nervous eyes looking down at her, Tsubaki watched as Izuku calmed himself down and return the smile.

"Right," He nodded.

The eight tests were not a huge challenge for Tsubaki; she was able to go through most of them without problems with her scoring low on a few that dealt with physical strength. But besides that, the orangette was pretty confident she wasn't the one going home that day. That; however, did not stop her from worrying about Izuku. Through the tests he has taken, he had yet to use his quirk to give him an extra boast in his scores, which was in the long run putting him at the bottom of everyone. With the day coming to a close, she was hoping her earlier assumption of still being quirkless was wrong. Their sensei was already betting on him to leave, and she wanted nothing more than for him to prove him wrong – to prove her wrong.

"Hey, is he like your boyfriend or something?" A voice suddenly asked, causing Tsubaki to nearly fall over in her spot on the field.

With a reddening face, the orangette quickly picked herself, waving her hands in a frantic manner of disapproval. _**"What!? No! Never! What made you think that!?"**_

Looking at who asked the question, Tsubaki saw it was the brunette who was talking to Izuku earlier. Taking a good look at her, Tsubaki noticed how the girl's shaped in a shoulder-length bob look with her bangs framing her face in long locks. Her face was warm and welcoming, reminding Tsubaki a lot of Izuku's.

"Oh, sorry," The girl apologized with a soft smile. "I just thought the way you two were hanging around each other that you were. You've sort of him been watching him without end this whole time."

"I-I have!" Tsubaki stammered, flushing even more red. Thinking about it, she has been watching him for a minute as he struggled with weight machine. She just hadn't realized she was looking at him that hard. "It's not like that, I promise. We're just really close friends and watch out for one another. He's honestly like a brother to me."

"Oh no, I completely understand," The girl replied before reaching out her hand. "I'm Uraraka Ochaco by the way."

Staring between Uraraka and her hand, Tsubaki quirked a brow at the brunette's gesture towards her.

" _Why was she…introducing herself to me?"_ Tsubaki questioned to herself, still staring at Uraraka's hand. The brunette eventually noticed Tsubaki's stare and pulled back her hand, making a sad frown.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Did I invade your space?"

"Um…," Tsubaki began unsure of what to say. "No, I'm just…surprised. Don't you know who I am?"

Uraraka just stared at her blankly.

Tsubaki then sighed. "Come on now. Everybody's been whispering about it all – my hair literally tells it all."

"I'm sorry, but I'm like super lost now," Uraraka chuckled softly, scratching the back of her head. "Am I supposed to know who you are?"

Tsubaki just stared at the brunette then – her mind blown. "…You really don't know who I am?"

"Nope!" Uraraka replied with a goofy smile.

" _Well that's the first,"_ Tsubaki thought, sweat dropping. _"Don't quite know how to feel about that."_

"She's Tachibana Tsubaki," A familiar voice informed. Turning their heads, Tsubaki and Uraraka watched as a determined Iida came walking towards them. "From the Tachibana family."

"Tachibana," Uraraka repeated, turning back to Tsubaki. The orangette didn't say a word, but simply looked away with a sad expression. "So you're…apart of that family."

"That's correct," Iida answered, pushing his glasses up before glancing towards Tsubaki. "She's the first of her family to ever be apart of a Hero Course as well as even attend Yūei."

" _Here comes the shunning,"_ Tsubaki commented, preparing to walk away.

"It's clear to say she does not embody the stigma her surname holds – plus the fact that she is so close to a superior student like Midoriya means her character must be just a commendable as his!"

"…Do you mind that?" Tsubaki asked in a surprised tone. She was looking directly at Iida now.

Iida nodded. "Of course! I admit, I initially did not take to you from your behavior during the entrance exams, but I misjudged you, and for that I apologize."

 **Also…I'm sorry if I made you upset that day. I was really sad when you ran away – I didn't mean to hurt you."**

Izuku was the first and only person to ever apologize to Tsubaki. Hearing someone else say it now, seemed almost alien, but it made her heart leap as well. It felt good not being judged by your background.

"Um…thank you, Iida," Tsubaki said sincerely. She then turned back to face a beaming Uraraka. "I guess…I owe you a proper introduction. Hi, I'm Tachibana Tsubaki. It's a pleasure to meet you, Uraraka."

"Same here!" Uraraka smiled.

"And I'm Iida Tenya!" Iida announced out of nowhere.

"We're well aware, Iida," Tsubaki stated.

" _If these are the people, I am going to be potentially stuck with for the reminder of my time at Yūei, then this is going to be interesting."_

"Hey, I think Midoriya is next up to toss the ball," Iida informed, directing Tsubaki and Uraraka's attention back to the green haired boy.

Izuku was staring intensely at the ball as he held it in the throwing zone. Tsubaki could tell he was freaking out and was hoping for this test that he would actually use his quirk – they only had a few more before their scores were ranked. There was no doubt he was feeling the pressure now and she wanted so badly to help him out through it.

" _Izuku…"_

"If Midoriya doesn't shape up soon, then he's the one going home," Iida said from beside Tsubaki. He was standing her left as Bakugou suddenly took up her right. Upon hearing this, he quickly put in his two sense.

"Huh!? Of course, he is!" Bakugou stated in a fiery tone. "He's a quirkless loser!"

"Shut your mouth, Bakugou!" Tsubaki barked, glaring at the boy. She didn't need him making Izuku feel even worse about things.

"He has a quirk," Iida argued in a matter-of-fact tone. "Isn't that right, Tachibana."

"Um…yeah," Tsubaki answered in a weak tone. She honestly wasn't too sure – he never showed it to her.

"What?!" Bakugou exclaimed, invading the orangette's personal space. "You got to be kidding me! You really are dumb, Baka! You know for a fact Deku is quirkless."

"Did you not hear about what he did in the entrance exams," Iida continued, now grabbing both Bakugou's and Tsubaki's attention. Izuku never did go into detail about what happened during the exams.

What did everybody else see that she didn't?

As the two men continued to bicker in between Tsubaki, she brought her eyes back to Izuku who was beginning to pitch. With eager eyes, the orangette held her gaze on the freckled faced boy, ready to finally see what everyone was talking about. Launching his hand forward, Tsubaki watched speechless as the ball flew from Izuku's hand and land only a few feet away from him. Her face was just as devastated as Izuku's.

" _What…was that?"_

Immediately after Izuku's ball went straight to the ground, Aizawa-sensei grabbed him with his gray and yanked the boy towards his face. Though Iida chimed in that it looked like their sensei was giving him some advice, Tsubaki couldn't help but disagree. From her point of view, it looked as though Aizawa-sensei was silently threatening him. By instinct she wanted to step in and defend her friend, but even she knew better to challenge the authority of somewhere like their sensei. Unsure of what to do, Tsubaki just watched as Aizawa-sensei released Izuku, ordering him to throw the ball again with little to no emotion in his voice. He had Izuku frozen and stuck.

"Our sensei is a dick," Tsubaki stated with a frown.

"Tachibana!" Iida exclaimed, freaked. "You can't be using such despicable language."

Ignoring the dark-haired boy, Tsubaki watched as Izuku prepared to pitch again. This time was different though. Throughout the whole day, this was the first time the orangette had seen her friend look so determined and focus. He didn't even take a moment to pause as he prepared to launch the ball, releasing it from his hand at a power Tsubaki had never witnessed before. Izuku had completely blown the ball from his hand, leaving Tsubaki and their entire class speechless at the power he had just released. It was so powerful that it had even undone the messy bun that Tsubaki had her hair in, causing her locks to fly in the wind in utter amazement.

" _Izuku…you."_ Tsubaki didn't know what to think, but just stood there amazed. Her best friend – her scrawny, cry baby Izuku, just blew that ball out of the park like it was nothing.

He really did have a quirk.

For the first time ever since meeting him, the orangette could truly believe that Izuku could be a hero too.

* * *

 _Fin._


	5. Chapter IV

**With acceptance comes opportunities. And with opportunities come numbers and, most importantly, hope. - Julie Foudy**

* * *

 **Chapter IV**

 **Acceptance**

* * *

" _Out of the darkness and into the sun_

 _But I won't forget the place I come from_

 _I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change_

 _And breakaway," – Breakaway; Kelly Clarkson_

* * *

He was quirkless. She was judged by her lineage. The world didn't give people like them a second glance. But they dreamed of being heroes. That was their story – that was why they were Deku and Baka. They were the impossibles trying to do the possible. No one understood them besides each other; they shared the same pain and had the same doubts.

 _So why?_

Why has Tsubaki forgotten – treating the person who understood her unlike anyone else like everyone else did. He was just like her; someone who desperately wanted to prove themselves to the world and prove they had the right to be a hero too. She shunned and doubted him, and completely ignored his deepest desire out of life.

 _She's been a terrible friend, but that was going to change._

She was going to be his bigger supporter, encouraging and pushing him to be the hero they knew he could be. It wasn't just all about her anymore – it was a Deku and Baka affair now. They were going to train their hardest to become the greatest heroes to ever live, and they were going to do it together.

"Oh, Tsuchan," Izuku said surprised. "W-were you waiting for me?"

Lifting her head up, Tsubaki saw Izuku exit out of Yūei, his finger completely healed and renewed. She sighed in relief at this, glad to see he was no longer in pain. Though the showcase of his quirk was amazing, it didn't go by Tsubaki how damaging it was to Izuku. His finger was heavily damaged and bruised and had Tsubaki going sick in the stomach. From what she heard from the rest of the class, it was a lot worse during the entrance exams with him completely wrecking his right arm and legs.

" _His quirk is powerful, but it messes him up like a rag doll,"_ The orangette noted to herself. _"We're gonna have to come up with a way to prevent him from doing that."_

"We walk home together, remember, Cinnamon Roll?" Tsubaki answered, pushing off the school's gates.

"Oh, yeah!" Izuku exclaimed, scratching this head. "Totally forgot."

"How's your finger?" Tsubaki asked, falling in step with the green-haired boy as he passed her. Without realizing it, she had grabbed the boy's finger and moved it close to her face to examine it. Izuku was tinting pink from the action. "It looks good as new."

"Yeah, that's Recovery Girl's quirk," Izuku informed sheepishly. "It allows her to amplify and speed up the human body's healing process by kissing them. However, the process uses large amounts of energy from the subject and could potentially kill them."

" _ **KILL THEM!?"**_ Tsubaki exclaimed, releasing Izuku's hand. "Remind me to never get that injured..."

"Ditto," Izuku replied, lifting up his healed hand. "I have so much power now…my body can barely handle it – I need to train harder if I ever want to use it without hurting myself. I can't always depend on Recovery Girl to heal me."

Watching Izuku carefully, Tsubaki had never heard him sound so serious and determined. He wanted to be a hero all is life, but now that he had a quirk, there was a fire sparked in him that she never knew was there. Her little Izuku was changing, and she didn't quite know how to feel about that.

"Um…Izuku?"

"Yeah, Tsuchan?"

"I—."

"Hey there, Iida!" Izuku squeaked as a sudden hand landed on his shoulder. Turning around, Tsubaki saw it was known other than their four-eyed classmate, Iida Tenya.

"How's the broken finger doing?" The giant of a student asked, hovering over both Izuku and Tsubaki.

"O-oh. It's doing fine, thanks to Recovery Girl," The green haired boy informed.

"I see," Iida said, stepping to Tsubaki's other side and placing his hand on his chin. Both Izuku and Tsubaki eyed him carefully, unsure of his actions. After standing there for a while, the dark-haired boy glanced at them. "Shall we continue?"

Izuku and Tsubaki looked at each other. "You're…walking with us?" The orangette inquired.

"Of course, is there a problem?"

"Um…no," Tsubaki answered in an unsure tone. She then looked to Izuku who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright then, let's continue," Iida said, starting the trio off. Tsubaki and Izuku looked at each other one more time before both shrugging and following in step with the taller boy. No one else had really walked home with them before; it was always them. It was odd having people actually want to be around them, but also refreshing.

"I was a bit concerned by Aizawa-sensei's approach to class," Iida began. "But I trust the school's judgement. Yūei is the top program. Even so, lying is downright immoral."

" _This guy can't be serious,"_ Tsubaki thought, eyeing the boy next to her carefully. _"No one can be this uptight."_

Glancing to her right, she noticed how Izuku was relaxing around the rectangular boy and soon found herself doing the same. Honestly, Iida wasn't as bad as she had perceived – he just took morals and ethics very seriously. There were some things that irked her about him, but she could see a dependable friend in him. He did apologize to her after all. Having him around wouldn't be so bad.

" _ **Hey! Wait up, you three!"**_

Turning around, Iida, Tsubaki, and Izuku were greeted by the cheerful smile of Uraraka approaching them. She ran straight through Tsubaki and Izuku, looping her arm around both their arms as she fell into pace with their walk.

"Are you guys heading to the station!? I'll join you!"

"Oh, you're the Infinity girl," Iida stated.

"Her name is Uraraka Ochaco, Iida, right?" Tsubaki informed, turning to the brunette to confirm.

Uraraka nodded. "Yup! And you're Iida Tenya, Tachibana "Tsuchan" Tsubaki, and you're…Midoriya, right? Deku?"

"Deku!?" Izuku exclaimed in a gasp.

"Yeah…isn't that what Bakugou called you?" Uraraka asked confused.

"Um…well—."

"His actually name is Midoriya Izuku, Uraraka," Tsubaki informed. "Deku is what Bakugou Bastard calls him just to make fun of Izuku."

"That's unsportsmanlike," Iida commented.

"That's Bakugou 24/7 for 365 days of the year," Tsubaki replied. She of all people knew that for a fact.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Uraraka apologized sincerely. "But you know what, I like "Deku"! It can make a great hero name! Plus, I think it sounds pretty cute!"

"Why would anyone e—." But then it dawned on Tsubaki. It was reverse psychology. If Izuku started to refer to himself as derogatory term that Bakugou called him, it could boost his immune to the affect of being called that, and probably help Izuku get over his fear of Bakugou. It was genius. "Actually, Izuku you are now Deku!"

" _ **What!?"**_

"Yeah, Deku!" Uraraka chimed in, in agreeance.

"B-B-But…"

"Just like that!?" Iida inquired confused. "Weren't you just saying that it was an insult?"

"Paradox shift! My whole world is upside down!" Izuku cried.

"Well, I guess if we're calling him that, we should refer to Tachibana as Ba—."

"Not on your **life** , Iida."

* * *

Second day of school at Yūei was not as eventful as the first – in fact, it was just as boring as any other day at Aldera Junior High. Even though in the Hero Course, Tsubaki and Izuku were taking the same curriculum as any other High Schooler. They had your basic English, Modern Literature, and Mathematic course that they had to sit through – all of which Tsubaki zoned out in. The orangette wasn't your per say academically motivated student; her grades were either average or barely made it. In fact, if Yūei's acceptance alone was on academics, then Tsubaki wouldn't be where she was right now. The only subject she has ever done well in was lunch, and that was because she could easily stuff her face. But that was going to change today.

There would be one other subject that the orangette could possibly excel in, and that subject was the only reason any of them were there at Yūei in the first place. The subject was Foundational Hero Studies taught by none other than—.

" _ **I…am…HERE!...coming through the door like a hero!"**_

" _All Might!"_ Tsubaki beamed, lighting up at the appearance of her favorite hero of all time coming into _her_ classroom – and she wasn't the only one! Her entire class grasped and awed at the appearance of Japan's #1 hero. Dressed in his Silver Aged costume, Tsubaki felt goosebumps at actually being in the presence of the hero she looked up to the most.

He was actually going to be their teacher – she was going to learn how to be a hero from the best of the best.

" _I can't believe this is really happening to me!"_ Tsubaki thought with a bright smile, her stormy eyes glancing over Izuku. _"To us."_

"Welcome to the most important class at Yūei!" All Might announced in his boisterous voice. He stood at the front of the classroom, his smile shining at them like stars. "Think of it as Heroing 101! Here you will learn the basics of being a pro, and what it means to fight in the name of good!"

" _Yes!"_ Tsubaki screamed in her head.

"Now let's get into it: Today's lesson will pull no punches!" All Might declared, pulling out a note card at that had _"BATTLE"_ written a crossed in bold red letters.

At the sight of that one word, the whole entire class went into an uproar of excitement. Everyone except for Izuku.

But All Might wasn't done just yet. "But one of the keys of being a hero is…," He said before holding a pause for dramatics. _**"LOOKING GOOOOODDDDDD!"**_

As if on que, towards the side of the classroom, the wall started to extend, revealing four panels that held steel briefcases with bold green numbers on them.

" _Are these our costumes?"_ Tsubaki wondered, watching All Might walk over to the panels.

"These were designed based on your Quirk registration forms and the requests you sent in before school started."

The whole entire class nearly jumped from their seats at this news. Everyone knew one of the coolest parts about being a hero was your very own unique costume. It wasn't your biggest trademark and made the whole experience of being a hero even more remarkable. Tsubaki couldn't wait to see how hers turned out. She had added a bit of both her parents' costumes into the design of it and couldn't wait to try it on.

"Get yourselves suited up!" All Might announced. "And then meet me at Training Ground Beta!"

" _This is going to be awesome!"_ Tsubaki thought, jumping from her seat and grabbing her briefcase. _"This has got to be the greatest day of my life!"_

"Hey Tsuchan, wait up!" Uraraka called out to the orangette. "Let's walk to the locker rooms together."

"Oh, hey, Uraraka, um…sure," Tsubaki agreed hesitantly. The orangette wasn't used to anyone other than Izuku wanting to be around her, but slowly she was warming up to the idea of actually having a "girl" friend.

"Hey, guys, wait up for us!"

Turning their heads, Tsubaki and Uraraka saw the rest of the girls from Class 1-A approaching them with the girl with the pink hair and skin from the entrance exam in the front. She was the one who called out to them.

"Let's all walk to the locker rooms together!" She chimed.

"Great idea, Ashido!" Uraraka agreed.

"Um, are you guys sure?" Tsubaki inquired. Clearly, they all must have figured out who she was by now, why would they want to walk along and be friendly to her?

"Is something wrong, Tsuchan?" Uraraka asked concerned.

"Well—,"

"Whoa, your nickname is "Tsu-chan", too?" A voice emerged from the group. Moving up to the front was a relatively small girl who resembled that of frog. Her hair was a dark sea-green color, and was very long, reaching all the way to her waist, the end tied together at the bottom in a bow.

"Um…yeah. I'm Ta…tachibana Tsubaki," Tsubaki confessed hesitantly, unsure of what everyone's reaction will be to her name. "'Tsuchan' for short."

As expected, there was a visibly silence that fell upon the group of girls from Tsubaki's surname. However, instead of turning away from her, the frog girl approached her further.

"I'm Tsuyu Asui," Asui introduced herself. "My friends can call me 'Tsu', and as far as I'm concerned everyone standing here can call me 'Tsu'."

Tsubaki's eyes widen at Asui's words and a small smile soon graced her face. "Alright, 'Tsu-chan'!"

Asui happily ribbited at Tsubaki's words and soon afterwards all the rest of the girls introduced themselves to Tsubaki. They all seemed extremely friendly and genuinely and Tsubaki found herself enjoying their company. They were all very different, but Tsubaki liked it – their different but welcoming personalities were refreshing. She never had girl friends before, so being surrounded by females who knew who she was and still wanted to be around her felt good.

" _Looks like coming to Yūei was the right decision after all,"_ Tsubaki thought fondly to herself as she entered the locker room with everyone else.

It didn't take long for Tsubaki to get suited up in her costume. Sporting a sleeveless, skin-tight leotard with a pure white base and a black and orange outlining design, Tsubaki stood in front of a mirror admiring herself. Along with the leotard, she also wore a jacket of the same design with orange knee-high boots, black fingerless gloves and goggles. Her costume came out exactly how she wanted it, and she loved it.

"Hey, Tsuchan, are you ready?" Uraraka called.

"Yeah," Tsubaki answered back. "Coming."

Taking one last glance at herself, Tsubaki exited the locker rooms with the rest of Class 1-A's girls. By the time they made it to Training Ground Beta, most of Class 1-A's boys were there fully suited and waiting for the gates to open. To her surprise, Tsubaki didn't see Izuku anywhere in sight. Immediately she turned her sights to Bakugou, believing no doubt he was the reason for Izuku's disappearance.

"Alright, Bakugou," Tsubaki barked, approaching the explosive blonde. "Where is he?!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, Baka," Bakugou growled lowly, glaring at the orangette.

"Don't play dumb! Izuku – where is he? I know you did something to him or else he would be here right now," Tsubaki argued.

"I didn't do anything to that damn nerd!" Bakugo defended fiercely. "Not yet, at least."

"And what's that supposed to mean, Bakugou!?" Tsubaki questioned in a demanding tone.

"You heard me, Baka," Bakugou said in a dangerous tone, looking Tsubaki directly in the eye. "I'm going to crush that nerd like the bug he is."

Hearing these words, Tsubaki wasted no time inching close to Bakugou and grabbing his shirt. "I'm warning you, Bakugou, if you in anyway hurt or harm Izuku, All Might himself is gonna have to stop me from getting my hands on you."

Unbothered by her threat, Bakugou just leaned closer to Tsubaki, returning the same death glare she was giving to him. The two neighbors stood like this for a while, completing ignoring everything else around them. Why was it that every chapter of her life, this bastard was there always threating any type of happiness she wanted? Why couldn't he just leave Izuku and her alone? Eventually their death glare contest came to an end when Uraraka notified everyone of Izuku's arrival, and without saying another word the two enemies turned away from each other.

Once everyone was present, All Might gave the lay down of how the day's training session would go; everyone would be broken down into groups of two and would be put against each other as villains and heroes. The winners of each trial would be determined by whether the heroes captured the villains or their war weapon; or the villains capturing the heroes or keeping the war weapon safe. Slots were drawn to decide on groups and Tsubaki found herself paired with Inoue Ken, a tall boy with shaggy warm brown hair and dark, laidback eyes. His costume consisted of dark blue, baggy body suit with silver outlinings, a high collar that covered his mouth, a long silver scarf, silver boots, and dark brown utility belt. His quirk: Kinetic Charging.

"So you can blow things up?" Tsubaki asked her partner curiously. Her mind then wondered to a certain ash blonde. "Well that sounds familiar."

"Not exactly," Inoue said, pulling out a deck of cards and casually cutting them. "I take the potential energy stored in objects and convert it into kinetic energy thus 'charging it' and upon coming in contact with anything else, it blows up."

"So…explosions basically," Tsubaki repeated.

Inoue sweatdropped. "The simplified sense, yes. I'm assuming your quirk is similar to that of your family's."

"…Not exactly," Tsubaki said finally answering the brunette. She was a little put off by the boy assuming what her quirk was, but when your surname is a notoriously known villain name it's expected. "My quirk is force fields manipulation, not as…dangerous as my family's signature quirk."

"Oh," Was all Inoue said, noticing how he made things uncomfortable. "…Hey…I'm not…judging you or anything. Midoriya, Iida, and Kirishima made it clear in the locker rooms you're a good person. I just assumed you were…okay with talking about stuff like that – you know your family."

Tsubaki found herself smiling at the fact that behind the scenes Midoriya and Iida were clearing her name their classmates, though she didn't quite know who this Kirishima was. Maye he was that boy with the red hair and sharp teeth.

"…It's okay, and thanks for telling me that," Tsubaki said taking a deep breath. "I guess I shouldn't blame everyone with being curious about me and asking those types of questions. I am a Tachibana after all attending the #1 Hero school in the country."

"Which is totally cool by the way," Inoue stated, holding a thumbs up. "You know – being a hero despite your family history. That takes guts."

Tsubaki smiled. "Yeah. Thanks, Inoue."

"No problem," He said before turning his attention to All Might. "I think All Might is about to call the first two groups, we better get going."

"Right."

Walking up to the rest of their classmates, Tsubaki and Inoue stood together ready to hear who All Might will announce as the first two groups to go. To Tsubaki's surprise, the groups that were called were known other than Bakugo's and Izuku's group, and as soon as she saw the look of pure aggression ignite in Bakugou's eyes, she knew Izuku wasn't going to be safe.

* * *

 _Fin._

 **Author's Note:** Sorry for the super late update. I promise I am not abandoning my baby!


	6. Chapter V

**"The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them."** **― Ernest Hemingway**

* * *

 **Chapter V**

 **Biggest Aspiration**

* * *

" _Our lives are made_

 _In these small hours_

 _These little wonders_

 _These twists & turns of fate," – Little Wonders; Rob Thomas_

* * *

"Tsuchan, are you alright?"

"Wha-?"

"Are…you alright?" Izuku asked in concern for his best friend. Ever since the announcement of the first two teams going up against each other, the orangette has been eerily quiet. She had distanced herself from the rest of the class, craning her head in deep thought with her arms holding her body tightly. Usually, when she was in this position, she was super anger or upset about something which of course had Izuku concerned.

"Are…are you upset about something?" Izuku asked.

For a moment, Tsubaki just stared at Izuku, face completely blanked of any emotion. Though nothing was on her face, a storm was raging inside of Tsubaki. She was absolutely against the idea of Izuku facing off with Bakugo. It was utterly insane – she saw the way the ash-blonde looked at Izuku once their matchup was announced. He was going to kill him; she couldn't allow that!

 _But at the same time…_

" _If I say something or show any sign of doubt of Izuku going up against Bakugo, I'll just be like everyone else,"_ Tsubaki thought to herself. _"Up to this point, I have done nothing but doubt him and put him down. But he has a quirk now – he's capable of winning this. I just have to have faith in him now."_

Sighing, Tsubaki placed both of her hands on Izuku's shoulders and gently squeezed them.

"Tsuch—."

"You got this, Izuku!"

At the sound of those words, Izuku's eyes widen at Tsubaki. "Show Bakubastard what you're made of! Make him sorry he ever doubted you! **I believe in you, Izuku!** "

Izuku stood speechless at Tsubaki's words – eyes wide with emotion. Eventually, he began to silently cry, and before Tsubaki knew it, she was being embraced by him. Surprised by the action, she quickly returned the embrace, snugging tightly into Izuku's neck and releasing a few tears herself. She really didn't deserve Izuku.

"Alright, you big crybaby," Tsubaki said, quickly letting go of the boy and swiftly wiping away her tears. "Enough of the tears now! You gotta prepare for your battle. Can't focus while you're crying."

"Y-y-y-yes m-m-ma-ma'am," Izuku cried, furiously wiping away his everlasting tears.

" _Look what I started,"_ Tsubaki sweatdropped.

"Alright!" Izuku announced, stopping his tears. "I'm gonna win this! Just you watch, Tsuchan! I'll make you proud!"

"I know you will," Tsubaki said softly, wiping the last tear from Izuku's face. "Just…promise me you'll be safe…okay?"

Izuku's face tinted pink at Tsubaki's words. He had never heard her sound so gentle. It was weird but nice. In fact, looking closely at her, Izuku was starting to see Tsubaki in a different light.

All their childhood, she was always tomboyish – her hair was always wild and untidy, her clothing never fitted but loose and big, and her voice was rarely if never low or soft. But looking at her now, Izuku was seeing something different. Maybe it was the way that her costume hugged her in curves he never noticed. Or how her long fiery hair now framed her face in a way you couldn't help but admire how calming her gray eyes were. Or maybe it was the softness of her voice just now when she spoke to him that just made his heart jump in a certain way. Whatever it was, all Izuku knew was that his best friend was changing.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku grabbed a hold of Tsubaki's hand and gave her a bright smile. "I will…I promise."

" _You better,"_ Tsubaki thought, watching Izuku race over to Uraraka. Though she held a smile on her face, it soon faltered as soon as All Might had instructed the rest of the class to the monitory room. She was trying her best to have faith in Izuku, but she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this matchup.

" _Please, Izuku, prove me wrong."_

* * *

" _Well at least I know why it cost a fortune to attend this damn school,"_ Tsubaki commented with a grimace, taking in the monitory room. This school was so high tech that it was ridiculous at this point, but Tsubaki couldn't help but be a little excited that she was able to experience all of this. However, her excitement was short-lived when she spotted Izuku and Uraraka traveling down the halls of the hostage building.

" _This is it,"_ The orangette thought, holding unto her body again. _"Okay, Izuku, show us what you got."_

As if on cue, Bakugou came on screen of the cameras and snuck attack Izuku and Uraraka with an explosion blast. Though Izuku was able to dodge it and move both him and Uraraka out of the way of the attack, part of his mask was caught in the explosion and left part of his face revealed. The sudden attack had the class in an uproar and Tsubaki boiling with rage.

"Bakugou, you bastard!" Tsubaki exclaimed in unfiltered rage for the ash blonde. "All Might, there has to be something against this! Bakugou is not fighting fair – he could have seriously hurt them if Izuku wasn't fast enough."

"But Young Midoriya was Young Tachibana," All Might corrected with his smile still in place. Glancing over at Tsubaki, the hero gave her a knowing look. "Let's not underestimate your classmates just yet. The battle has just begun."

Caught off by All Might's words and glance, Tsubaki took a moment to calm herself down. It was only just the beginning after all, and Izuku did surprise her on how quick he reacted to Bakugou's attack. Maybe she was underestimating him too soon.

Focusing her attention back on the screen, Tsubaki's eyes widen in surprise as she watched Izuku grab hold of Bakugou's right arm and swing him over his body, causing Bakugou to crash upon the ground on his back. The class cheered at Izuku's attack as Tsubaki stood utterly amazed and shocked at Izuku's actions. She had never seen her best friend fight before – she never even knew he could fight. Seeing him perform such a move was so out of character of the Izuku she grew up with. It was by far the coolest thing she has ever seen the freckled face nerd ever do and it gave her goosebumps all over.

" _Izuku,"_ Tsubaki thought, feeling the corners of her lips move upwards. _"When did you?...How did you?...Dammit! I'm so happy for you I can't even think straight."_

"Wow, Midoriya, is really something, isn't he?" Inoue commented from behind Tsubaki.

"Yeah," Tsubaki replied in a soft tone. "He really is."

Looking back up at the screen, Tsubaki could feel pride swelling up in her heart at how confident and powerful Izuku looked taking his stance against Bakugou. She had never seen him like this before and it absolutely amazed her at how confident he had become. There was no hint of fear in his green eyes anymore. He no longer saw Bakugou as someone superior anymore – he saw him as his equal; his rival now. Without realizing it, Izuku was growing up right before Tsubaki's eyes and she was missing it because of her own doubts about him. He was changing and she couldn't help but feel a warm inside from it.

" _You're not the same nerd anymore, are you, Izuku?"_ Tsubaki smiled in thought, her cheeks tinting a blush of red. _"No…Deku."_

" **THAT'S WHY I HATE YOU!"**

Recognizing Bakugou's voice, Tsubaki looked back at the screen to see the ash-blonde exploding in anger. After years of seeing the worse of Bakugou, she had never seen him that angry before. He honestly looked like a crazed villain now and all his aggression to targeted towards Izuku. Tsubaki could her blood running cold at how intense this battle was really getting now. She wasn't even doubting Izuku's skills anymore, she was honestly truthfully afraid of what Bakugou might do to _win_.

"All Might, we have to stop the fight now!" Tsubaki declared, running up to the hero.

"What now?" All Might questioned, confused.

"What's wrong, Tsuchan?" Tsu asked, approaching the orangette.

"Listen, I've known both Bakugou and Izuku my entire life, and I'm telling you right now if this fight continues, one of them is going to end up dead!" Tsubaki argued.

"Why do you think that?" A blonde-haired boy with a black lightning strike asked with a puzzled. If Tsubaki remembered correctly his name was Kaminari.

" _You can't be serious!?"_ The orangette thought in disbelief.

"I'm sorry!" Tsubaki stated in a sarcastic tone, tapping the main screen and enlarging the image of Bakugou on steroids. **"BUT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE A SANE PERSON WHO IS GOING TO PLAY BY THE RULES OF THIS MOCK BATTLE!?"**

"Uhh," Kaminari pondered dazedly. It took everything in her not to strangle him.

" **THAT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION, YOU IDIOT! NO, HE IS NOT A SANE PERSON RIGHT NOW!"**

"Young Tachibana," All Might said, placing a gentle hand Tsubaki's shoulder. "I know you are concern about your friend, but you have to have faith things will end well."

"But—."

"A true hero must always have faith – even when times are bad – that everything is going to fine," All Might comforted. "If heroes always think of the bad that could happen, how could we ever inspire and give hope to the people that everything is going to be alright. Just have faith, Young Tachibana."

"…All right, All Might," Tsubaki said in a defeated tone. Hanging her head down, she felt a large hand grab hers and squeeze it tight. Looking up, she saw Tsu holding her hand and sending her a happy ribbit. Tsubaki returned the smile and squeezed the frog girl's hand back.

She had to have faith now.

"Bakugou's on the move now!" Someone called out.

Everyone's attention turned back to the screen as they watched Bakugou chase after Izuku down the halls of the building. Though Tsubaki still had her fears, she was going to trust All Might's words and just have faith things will end well. As the fight continued, it took everything in Tsubaki not to scream and beg to end the fight. Izuku started off good but Bakugou eventually got the best of him and started to beat him mercilessly. It got so bad to the point that she had left the room – she couldn't watch anymore.

Tsubaki wanted so badly to believe in All Might's words, but seeing Izuku get beaten with no sign of help was killing her. She couldn't understand why All Might hadn't stop the fight yet either. It was frustrating and only just made her angry. How could the hero they all looked up allow this to happen!?

"Dammit!" Tsubaki screamed, punching the wall next to her.

"Tachibana!" A familiar voice called.

Turning around, Tsubaki saw nothing but red running towards her until she realized it was the spiky guy from the entrance exams – Kirishima.

"Kirishima?" The orangette said, watching the redhead approach her.

"Guess what!? Midoriya and Uraraka won!"

"…What?"

* * *

When Tsubaki and Kirishima returned to the monitory room, the news of Izuku and Uraraka winning the first match turned out to be true to word as soon as Tsubaki was greeted by a hug from Uraraka. It had turned out that Izuku had outwitted Bakugo and Iida and had ended up winning them the match at the cost of most his arms. As soon as the battle ended, he was immediately sent to Recovery Girl.

Hearing this news left Tsubaki in an utter daze. It seemed almost unbelievable that Izuku won.

" _All Might…was right,"_ The orangette thought, gazing up at the hero. Noticing her stare, All Might smiled brightly at her and sent her a thumbs up. Tsubaki smiled back, feeling her body finally relax from all the stress and worry she was holding inside. However, as soon as the stress left her, her mind immediately went to Bakugou.

Searching the room, Tsubaki found Bakugou backed up in a corner of the room defeated. He looked as though his world was crashing down by his loss. It probably did hurt him that someone who was once quirkless beat him, but Tsubaki didn't give a damn. He deserved this lose. He has done nothing but torture and bully Izuku – he needed to be taught a lesson, and Tsubaki couldn't wait for the day that she could teach him one as well.

The rest of the match-ups continued as planned with every battle being exciting in its own way. When it finally came to Tsubaki's team, they had ended up going one on one against each other since the class count was short on teams. The winner ended up being Tsubaki, however, she didn't consider it a win. She could tell Inoue wasn't trying his hardest against her and was honestly just there. She couldn't complain though because, from the array of emotions that she experienced that day, she appreciated an easy fight.

By the end of the day, everyone was tired and couldn't wait to retire to homeroom. It was only their second but it seemed as though so much has happened to them. Days like this were soon going to be normal for them, which left an exciting buzz growing inside all of them.

"Wow, I can't believe we survived our second day!" Uraraka exclaimed, taking a seat next to Tsubaki.

"I think you mean barely survive, Uraraka," Tsu commented, placing a thoughtful finger on her chin.

"That I agree with," Tsubaki chuckled lightly, leaning her chin against her arm.

"Wow, what a laugh," Kaminari commented, walking past the three girls. "You should smile and laugh more, Tachibana. It looks really good on you."

"Yeah, Tsuchan, I mean I know we all haven't really known each other for long, but it seems like you're always worried or upset about something," Uraraka said sincerely. "Maybe you should smile and let loose more. I mean you look really pretty when you do."

" _PRETTY!?"_ Tsubaki's mind screamed. The orangette's face immediately turned red and she found herself covering her face with her hair again. Certain words triggered Tsubaki and "pretty" was one of them.

"Um, Tsuchan, are you okay?" Tsu asked curiously.

"Just peachy," The orangette squeaked from behind her hair.

But thinking about it, Tsubaki noticed she didn't happy emotions a lot. They were always negative or depressing. It could have been the Tachibana in her or maybe she just didn't have a happy life that inspired such good emotions. She was always happy around Izuku but recently even that has become negative.

" _Maybe I do need to be happy more,"_ Tsubaki thought.

" _ **If heroes always think of the bad that could happen, how could we ever inspire and give hope to the people that everything is going to be alright. Just have faith, Young Tachibana."**_

" _All Might words hit a lot deeper than I thought."_

Sighing, Tsubaki removed her hair from her face and was greeted by the sight of the Uraraka, Kaminari, and Tsu. Upon seeing their faces, the orangette curved her lips upward and smiled at them.

"You guys are right. I should probably smile more."

"So cute!" Uraraka gashed out in utter joy.

"Also, Kaminari," Tsubaki called, facing the blonde boy. "I want to apologize for earlier. It wasn't right for me to call you an idiot. I was just so fearful and scared for Izuku, I couldn't control my anger. I have a really bad habit of doing that so I am truly sorry."

Tsubaki had meant to find the blonde earlier to apologize but he had already gone to the locker room to change. She had realized that after Izuku's battle she was wrong to have lashed out at the poor guy. She really had to work on her emotions if she ever really wanted to become a great hero one day.

" _I just got to do better from now on."_

"Hey, it wasn't a big deal, really," Kaminari comforted. "No hard feelings."

"That's good—."

"Buuuutttt," The blonde continued, leaning close to Tsubaki. "If you really want to make it up to me how about me and you go on a little dat—."

"Izuku!" Tsubaki chirped, lighting up at the sight of her best friend. Hopping up from her desk and skipping over desks and classmates (much to Iida's displeasure), Tsubaki embraced Izuku happily, knocking the boy down.

"Hey, Tsuchan!" Izuku greeted happily. "I'm sorry if I had you worried—."

" **ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?"** Tsubaki roared, jumping back on her feet. "Izuku you made me so proud! You beat Bakugou! You showed that ash blonde dick what you're made of!"

"Tachibana, language!" Iida reprimanded.

"You were really amazing out there, Izuku. I never knew you could do the things I saw today. You really are training hard to be a hero," Tsubaki said, her voice getting softer as she reached a hand out to lift up her friend. "I'm sorry I haven't been the supportive friend you've needed, Izuku. But I promise from this day forward, I'll be your biggest fan and supporter every step of the way. We're both going to be heroes, okay!"

It felt good finally saying those words. It felt like a weight was lifted of Tsubaki's shoulders, and seeing the teary smile on Izuku's face was even better. Of course, he cried – that is Izuku after all, but it was the words he said to her that really made the moment special.

"It really means a lot to hear that, Tsuchan, especially since you were my aspiration through it all," Izuku confessed, rubbing his eyes of tears.

Hearing those words shocked Tsubaki. "…What?"

Taking a deep breath, Izuku wiped away his last tear and looked Tsubaki directly in the eye. "You're my aspiration, Tsuchan. Of course, All Might is an inspiration, I want to be just like him. But it's you that push me to work so hard to be like him. Despite the challenges you face, you never back down or give up. You keep persevering no matter how tired you get or how people treat you. I've always admired this about you, which is why it means so much to have your support. I know now with you and All Might in my corner, I really can become a great hero—Tsuchan, are you crying?"

" **NO!"** Tsubaki denied, shaking her head furiously. "Some hair just got in my eye!"

"But when did—?"

" **HAIR GOT IN MY EYE!"**

"Okay, I believe you!"

 _Click!_

It was at that moment the two best friends turned around to face the rest of the class looking at them. It seemed a small portion of the class had huddled into a group with their phones out, watching the exchange between friends.

And unfortunately, someone took a picture with their sound on.

"Aww! It's only the second day and we already have a class couple!" Ashido squealed in delight. "I totally ship it!"

"We should totally call them, Tsuku!" Hagakure exclaimed happily, dancing about with Ashido.

"Um, guys," Uraraka chirped, interrupting the two love-struck girls. "I don't think Tsuchan is to happy about us watching them."

Fuming from the mouth with a dark aura erupting from her, Tsubaki gave death glares to all of her classmates that was watching her and Izuku.

" **We. Are. Not. A. COUPLE!"** The orangette roared, pouncing on the small group. **"DELETE THE PICTURE!"**

"Every man for themselves!" Kirishima yelled

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hey all! Sorry for updating so late! Gosh life just gets busy, but I'm graduating soon so I'll be able to post more! This chapter is a little emotional but more action is coming soon! Also don't be fooled by this chapter, I haven't shipped Tsubaki officially with anyone...yet ;) See you next time!


	7. Chapter VI

**I've always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative - James Baldwin**

* * *

 **Chapter VI**

 **Third Day of School**

* * *

" _I'll spend the rest of my time_

 _Laughing hard with the windows down_

 _Leaving footprints all over town_

 _Keeping faith, karma comes around," – Catch My Breath; Kelly Clarkson_

* * *

" **OKAY, YOU IDIOTS, WHO VOTED FOR HI—!?"**

Before Bakugou could finish his last word, he was suddenly kicked in the face by none other than Tsubaki, who gladly sent him flying to the window. Whistling innocently, she then took a step back to Izuku's desk and calmly placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Well as we can obviously see here," Tsubaki announced in a sickeningly sweet tone. "Izuku won _fair and square_ as class rep, and we shouldn't let an ash blonde dick ruin that!"

" **DID YOU FUCKIN' KICK ME, BAKA!?"** Bakugou roared, jumping back on his feet.

"Duh, you were ruining the democratic process, asshole," Tsubaki murmured, rolling her eyes. "Plus did you really think people would vote for you. You're a dick, dick."

"Have to agree with Tachibana on that," The class said in unison. As Bakugou fumed at the results, Tsubaki merely smiled in victory, appreciative of her classmates having her back.

It was the third day of school for the students of Class 1-A and it seemed everybody was pretty much getting used to each other. Even when it came to the daily one-on-ones with Tsubaki and Bakugou, it seemed everyone was taking it on as a normal thing – well everyone except for Iida. Tsubaki was just thankful for the first time people were genuinely trying to get to know and understand both her and Izuku. It seemed as though both were now finally making friends, and Tsubaki couldn't help but be happy about it. She had promised herself yesterday from now on she should only be focusing on the positive of things and just having faith things will turn out for the good.

Today was going to be the start of a happier Tsubaki, and she already could feel it happening.

"This…is…really…happening," Izuku gasped, shaking in his red boots in front of the class.

"Is Midoriya going to be okay?" Tokoyami asked from behind Tsubaki.

"Of course, he is!" Tsubaki chirped, leaning back in her chair. "Plus, this is perfect leadership practice for him. You got this, Izuku!"

Yes – the orangette was definitely in good spirits now.

When lunchtime finally came around for Class 1-A, everyone was a little too excited to get out of homeroom with Aizawa – especially Tsubaki. However, as the orangette was about to exit the classroom with everybody else, an unsuspecting hand belonging to said depressing sensei graced her shoulder. Feeling her blood turn cold, she knew this wasn't going to go well.

"Yes, sensei?" Tsubaki squeaked. She hoped he didn't hear the kick she gave Bakugou earlier.

"Tachibana, go take this paperwork to the faculty office," Aizawa lazily ordered, handing Tsubaki some files.

The orangette quirked an eyebrow at the disheveled sensei. "Isn't this the job of the class rep?"

"Is this you disobeying me?" Aizawa-sensei shot back, turning on his quirk.

Without another word, Tsubaki was off to the faculty office with little time to waste. What the orangette didn't know; however, was that the faculty office was all the way across the school. By the time Tsubaki finally made it to the office, most of her lunch period was almost over.

" _What the hell, Aizawa!"_ Tsubaki fumed in her head, entering the faculty office nearly exhausted. _"Why the fuck is the faculty office so far away from the classrooms!?"_

Slamming Aizawa's file on the receptionist's desk and taking her leave, Tsubaki made a beeline to the cafeteria in hopes of at least getting something to eat before hero training. But before she could even get close to it, a loud alarm suddenly began to go off in the entire building.

"What the hell is that!?" The orangette blurted out, covering her ears from the alarm.

 _Warning! Level 3 security beech! All students please evacuate the building immediately!"_

" _What's going on?"_ Tsubaki thought worriedly.

But before she could even get a grasp of what was happening, a stampede of students came running her way nearly crushing her. Trying her best to maneuver through the crowd, Tsubaki only found herself easily being moved and pushed around by the other students. Everybody was in such a panic that they didn't realize they were hurting herself and others lost in the crowd. It was getting so bad to the point Tsubaki knew there were over three pairs of feet tumbling over her own.

" _Dammit!"_ She winced, confused as to what to do.

Through the chaos though, Tsubaki heard something slam on either side of her and soon found the dozen bodies pressed against her turn into one. Opening her eyes and looking up, Tsubaki's eyes grew in disgust at who was now pressed against her. With narrow red eyes glaring down at her, it was none other than Bakugou.

"Look who's a damsel in distress now, eh!" Bakugou sneered, with a mocking grin. "What's wrong, Baka, can't fight for yourself in a wild crowd."

"Shut up, asshole!" Tsubaki barked back, utterly pissed by the fact that Bakugou was shielding her from the panicking crowd. If it was anyone else, she would be grateful but of all people, it had to be the biggest pain in her ass.

" _Why is he helping me anyway!?"_

"That's not the way to talk to the person who is basically keeping you from being trampled!" Bakugou shot back. "Someone's ungrateful!"

"I didn't ask you to help!" Tsubaki yelled back. "I would rather be run over than stand here and see your ugly mug!"

" **WHY YOU—!"**

"Hey, everyone! Everything is okay! It's just the press! No one's in danger!"

As soon as this was announced, the mob of panicking students calmed down and everyone had their personal space again. Well – everyone except for Tsubaki, which she eventually got back after kneeing Bakugou in the balls.

* * *

"I can't believe that actually happened," Tsubaki sighed, slouching her shoulders. "I had no idea the press was that crazy."

"I know right," Kirishima agreed, leaning back in his seat next to Tsubaki. "And to think we have training right after that."

"You got that right," Tsubaki said, glancing outside to the moving scenery.

Class 1-A was currently abroad a bus traveling to their training for today. A lot had happened since the press incident that occurred earlier that day from Iida becoming the class rep and the class now being in all of their costumes. It seemed like their days were getting crazier and crazier without no peace.

"At least today's training will only be rescue training," Uraraka chimed in, trying to cheer up everybody.

"You're right about that," Tsu said, agreeing with the brunette. "You should be able to shine a lot during this training, Uraraka."

"You think so?" Uraraka blushed.

"Yeah!" Tsubaki nodded. "Zero Gravity is a pretty cool quirk to have."

"Your quirk is pretty cool too, Tachibana," Kirishima stated with a grin. "Yours should also do well with today's training."

"I guess, but my quirk is nothing compared to Izuku's," The orangette pointed out, pointing to her best friend. "I would give anything for a quirk like that."

"Don't say that, Tsuchan! Your quirk is amazing!" Izuku blurted out, causing everyone to look at him.

Turning into a nervous mess, Tsubaki only chuckled as now all the attention was on him and his quirk. It seemed everybody else agreed that he had an amazing quirk. Tsu even went as far as to note how similar it was to All Might's, which piqued Tsubaki's interest. His quirk was a lot similar to All Might's – well including the breaking body parts part – it was almost funny how close they were since All Might was Izuku's biggest hero. Most people developed quirks similar to their parents, but Izuku didn't.

" _How interesting,"_ Tsubaki pondered.

When the bus finally arrived at the training location, Class 1-A was greeted by the sight of an enormous dome. Standing outside waiting for them was none other than Space Hero: Thirteen. Tsubaki could feel the nerdgasm Izuku was having.

"Hello everyone!" The astronaut suited hero greeted. "I can't wait to show you what's inside!"

And boy was Class 1-A in for a treat.

Inside the dome was an amusement park-based training facility that covered commonly known disastrous situations. It included everything from a shipwreck to a windstorm. Thirteen had specially designed the place for rescuing training, and from the looks of things, she didn't hold back from anything. However, the name of it was very off-putting.

"USJ?" Tsu ribbited.

"Fucking Universal Studios of Japan," Tsubaki said, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Language, Tachibana!" Iida reprimanded. Tsubaki merely ignored the dark-haired boy as per usual.

As Thirteen continued to brief the class on how to go about being in USJ and using their quirks within it, suddenly the power within the building began to shut off causing everyone to go quiet. Amid the facility, a dark purplish hole began to open in the middle a water fountain, and soon, within minutes, bodies of bodies of villains started to emit from it.

"What's going?" Uraraka asked worriedly.

"Something not good," Tsubaki swallowed.

"Everybody stay back!" Aizawa-sensei commanded, putting on his goggles. "Thirteen, you stay here and protect the students."

"Right!"

Reading into the tones of her senseis, Tsubaki without thinking immediately formed a light orange dome around the class. Whatever was happening, they had to protected at all cost and she was only one with the quirk to do it.

"Quick thinking, Tachibana," Aizawa-sensei nodded to the orangette. "Under no cost do you bring down that dome, do you understand?"

Tsubaki nodded. "Yes, sir!"

"Everyone, hear me now, this is real. Those are real villains down there," Aizawa announced, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Real villains?" Ashido squeaked.

"How is this possible?" Kirishima questioned. "Doesn't the school got alarms."

"That's right," Yaoyorozu said, turning to Thirteen. "Thirteen, why aren't the alarms going off?"

"That's a good question," Thirteen pondered warily. "I'm not sure."

At that answer, the entire class gasped. Feeling the fear creeping in, Tsubaki double-folded on the strength of the dome and prayed she had enough energy to last her having it up until helped came. Of all the days to miss lunch and have something like this happen was just Tsubaki's luck. Most of her energy came from the input of energy, and since she missed lunch who knows how much she had in her.

"This makes me wonder if the entire campus is under attack or is this their only target?" Todoroki questioned thoughtfully. "Either way, if the alarm sensors aren't being triggered, then one of these villains must have a quirk that's masking their presence here."

"So you're thinking this might be a plan," Tsubaki asked.

"It is a plan," Todoroki sternly stated.

"Thirteen, get the students out of here and alert the main campus," Aizawa-sensei spoke. "Tachibana, keep your dome over everyone until you reach safety. Also, Kaminari, use your quirk to try to contact the school as well. They're probably blocking all ways of communication."

"But what about you, Aizawa-sensei!" Izuku questioned in fear. "You can't fight them on their own! These too many of them. Even if you can nullify their quirks, your fighting style is not suited for this—!"

"Izuku!" Tsubaki called out, putting her hand on Izuku's shoulder. The green-haired boy quickly turned around to face his best friend and was shocked to find a calm smile on her face. "Our sensei is a pro hero. He knows what he's doing. Doubting him in a time like this is not going to help with anything. Besides, it's the defensive quirks that kick ass the most – trust me on this."

She of all people knew this better than anything.

"We just got to have faith."

"Listen to your classmate, Midoriya," Aizawa-sensei said. "You can't be a pro hero if you only have one trick. I'm leaving everything to you now, Thirteen."

And just like that in a swift move, Aizawa-sensei leaped over the stairwell and began his kicking ass session against the villains. With all eyes on Aizawa-sensei, Class 1-A took this chance to head towards the exit of the USJ, but before they could even make it far, the dark purple hole from before appeared before. And the scariest part of it – it was inside Tsubaki's dome.

"There is no escape for you," The hole sneered, spreading in Tsubaki's dome.

"Tachibana, let down your shield," Thirteen commanded.

Tsubaki did as she was told, and along with the rest of her classmates, backed away from the dark substance.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," The hole greeted sinisterly. "We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn't this a fitting place for All Might, the Symbol of Peace to take his breath? I believe he was supposed to be here today, and yet I see no sign of him. There must've been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen. Ah, well, in the end, I suppose it doesn't matter. I still have a role to play."

"Bastard!" Bakugou hollered, both him and Kirishima charging forward towards the dark mass.

" _What are those idiots doing!?"_

But before Tsubaki could get a chance to see what was going on, the entire class was consumed by the dark mass, blinding them all and sending them to an unknown fate. The third day of school was not in any of their favor.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** See! I'm already doing better! Two chapters in one night! Yay!


End file.
